Take Every Chance
by shehzaadimira
Summary: A Snowells fic: After Caitlin is kidnapped by an unknown foe, Harry and the rest of Team Flash work together to juggle defeating The Thinker with the rest of the madness that has presented itself to them at the same time. Canon compliant up to 4x09, before it goes off the rails! Rated T just to be safe.
1. Keeping it together

Welcome! This is my first published fanfiction, which I have no business writing seeing as my writing skills are garbage (I chose to major in math for a reason). But it was fun for me so I thought I'd share it anyway. A couple of things - this is canon compliant up to and including 4x09 (so spoilers up to there if you haven't watched) before it just spirals into utter chaos and plot holes.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash or any of the characters apart from Ruth.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Keeping it together**

A nearby clock read four o'clock. It was quiet so she guessed it was four in the morning. Caitlin struggled to keep her eyes open as she coughed up blood.

 _What am I doing here?_

Visions of chaos flashed before her eyes. People yelling, bodies dropping to the ground, but who put them there? Then she remembered. Amunet.

 _Of course. Who else would it have been?_

Caitlin was ripped from her thoughts as she became aware of a searing pain in her side. Her vision began to blur. She was vaguely aware of the smashed cell phone by her side before once again losing consciousness.

"Caitlin, Caitlin can you hear me?"

Cisco, who had vibed Caitlin as soon as she didn't show up for work that morning, was hysterical. Luckily, Iris had insisted on coming along while Ralph and Wally dealt with another meta-human crisis and Harry held down the fort at S.T.A.R Labs. With Barry arrested, the team was once more stretched thin.

"We've got to take her back to S.T.A.R. Labs," said Iris, who forced herself to stay composed and panic later.

"And then what? Have her stitch herself back together? No one else has medical experience!"

"Cisco focus! We're obviously not going to leave her on the street and we can't take her to a hospital because the police found CCTV footage of her turning into Killer Frost."

"Right, sorry. Let's go."

Creating a breach, the two of them carefully carried Caitlin through it. Stepping into the Cortex, they heard Harry shouting.

"I said the fourth floor Dibny, you idiot!"

"No, I'm pretty sure you said fifth," came Wally's voice.

"Ha! Who's the idiot now?" Ralph gloated. Harry was about to interject when he looked up and saw the three of them.

"Caitlin…"

Iris and Cisco brought Caitlin to the medical wing while Harry stared after them with worry.

"Is Caitlin okay?" Wally asked, causing Harry to snap back to action.

"Don't worry about her, she's being taken care of. Focus on catching the meta," Harry urged, trying not to sound shaken.

At that moment in the medical wing, Caitlin began to regain consciousness. She was aware of movement around her as well as faint voices in the distance. Still delirious, and not quite able to open her eyes, more visions flashed through her mind.

"Okay, I just talked to Gypsy and she's going to get in touch with a medic on her Earth," Cisco said.

"Isn't that in violation of Earth-19's inter-dimensional rule?" asked Iris.

"She's willing to take the risk," Cisco said looking down at Caitlin who had begun to stir. "Caitlin, can you hear us?"

Caitlin mumbled incoherently as the visions of the bodies came back to haunt her.

" _Amunet, stop this!" Caitlin screamed._

" _Awe, is this all too much for poor Caitie? You know, now that I have no use for you anymore and your Frosty side refuses to cooperate, I think I'll let you join the rest of these pathetic traitors."_

 _Caitlin looked around in vain for a weapon or means of escape. Then, just as she was about to transform into Killer Frost, shards of metal came flying through the air, piercing her just above the right hip._

Caitlin gasped and started to thrash around.

"We have to restrain her before she hurts herself," said Iris, finding it harder to keep her composure as she watched her friend struggle. Cisco nodded, mumbling, "Sorry Caitlin," as he and Iris strapped her arms and legs to the cot.

Suddenly, Caitlin's visions turned to the memory of Harry sitting with her at Jitter's. Harry defending her, even though _she_ was the one with meta-human abilities. Her thrashing gradually lessened and she mumbled, "Harry…" before drifting off again.

Iris and Cisco exchanged a glance and Iris said, "I'll switch out with Harry."

Back in the cortex, Harry was on standby as Wally and Ralph fought the yet-to-be-named meta-human who had the ability to both grow and shrink, which was making for an interesting task of finding a needle in a haystack without getting stepped on.

"I'll take over from here; you're needed in the medical wing," Iris said with a peculiar look on her face.

"Me? Why me? Didn't Ramon arrange for a medic?" Harry questioned.

"Just go," Iris said, lightly shoving him in the direction of the medical wing. Harry stuttered slightly, a look of bewilderment plastered on his face as he stumbled away.

"What's the matter Ramon? How's Snow?" Harry asked pensively.

"She said your name before passing out again. Maybe try talking to her, see if she wakes up. I'm going to wait outside for Gypsy," Cisco said distractedly.

"Hey Ramon, she's going to be alright," Harry said, giving Cisco a meaningful look.

Cisco gave Harry a small nod before leaving the room. Harry sighed and looked down at Caitlin who was now in restraints, with some sort of bandage placed over the wound on her side. She was covered in cuts and bruises, her clothes were torn, and yet she looked so peaceful. He grabbed a chair and sat next to her.

"Hey Snow. How did you end up like this…"

He undid the restraints on her right arm and held her hand in his. He heard the distant sound of a breach being opened and footsteps drawing nearer.

"Look at that, help has arrived. You'll be good as new in no time," Harry said quietly.

"Harry," Caitlin murmured softly in her sleep.

Harry's eyes widened. Just then, Gypsy, Cisco, and presumably the medic walked in. Harry quickly let go of Caitlin's hand and the medic shook his hand briefly before setting up her equipment.

"My name is Ruth. Cisco updated me on your girlfriend's condition. Has her condition changed since he left?"

"No, aside from some muttering, she hasn't moved," Harry said.

"Alright then I need all of you to wait outside please," Ruth said.

Gypsy, Cisco, and Harry made their way out of the medical wing and met up with Iris in the Cortex.

"Okay so Wally managed to get our nameless-" Iris began before being interrupted by Cisco.

"Tiny Giant?"

"You can do better," said Iris before continuing. "As I was saying, Wally brought her in and went back to help Ralph clear up the destruction downtown. I'm going to head over to CCPD to see how my dad is doing with Barry's case…"

"Let us know if we can do anything to help," Cisco said, giving Iris a hug.

"Thanks Cisco, I'll see you guys later."

Harry, Cisco, and Gypsy sat in silence while Ruth worked away. Finally, Gypsy spoke.

"Hey, I know this is none of my business, but is there anything going on between you and Caitlin?" she asked looking at Harry curiously.

"Wha-no. No! I mean she's my...friend."

"Right, sorry. It's just that she said your name in her sleep…"

"Yeah…" Harry said absently. Gypsy and Cisco looked at each other before Harry added, "I mean she was out of it. Maybe she was dreaming about another Harry like Harry Potter!"

"Whatever you say, man," Cisco said to which Harry glared at him. Then Cisco perked up, "Hey, you didn't say anything when Ruth called Caitlin your girlfriend either!"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Because that would have wasted time, Ramon! You two are reading too much into this."

Harry made to get up and leave but just then, Ruth walked in.

"She's resting now. The wound on her side was a bit tricky, what with the metal shards and all but I was able to successfully extract them all. She also acquired some nasty bruises, likely from falling, but luckily nothing is broken. I've left aftercare instructions by her bedside but just contact me if you have any questions."

Harry and Cisco relaxed but Gypsy remained anxious.

"Thank you so much Ruth," Cisco said with a grin.

"Cisco, could I talk to you alone for a moment?" Gypsy asked.

"Oh yeah, sure," Cisco said as Gypsy led them to the hallway.

"Sorry to spring this on you, but would you be okay to come back with me to Earth-19? It would help with my cover story about Ruth. But I understand if you need to stay here with Caitlin."

"No, I think she'll be taken care of here," Cisco said, giving Gypsy a knowing look.

Gypsy smirked and said, "Good, because I had more than just the cover story in mind for us."

The two of them rejoined Ruth and Harry, who had been discussing how to keep Caitlin comfortable.

"Gypsy needs me to help out at Earth-19. Will you be okay to handle things here?" Cisco asked Harry.

"Can I handle things here-Ramon, did you forget I have a daughter? I can take care of the injured better than you ever could."

"Okay hurtful. And who was it that mixed up fourth and fifth earlier today…?"

Gypsy cut off whatever retaliation Harry was about to give by creating a breach.

"That's enough, boys. See you later, Wells."

Cisco, Ruth, and Gypsy disappeared through the breach, leaving Harry alone in S.T.A.R. Labs with Caitlin.

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Please review, even if it's to completely tear this apart. I'll take any criticism I can get!


	2. Rest up

A big thank you to roguenation26 for your review! Also, I forgot to mention this before but most characters are going to be pretty OOC.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash or Harry Potter. The only character I own is Ruth.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Rest up**

Hours went by and it was starting to drive Harry crazy. There were no new metas causing havoc, and yet there was so much to be worried about. Barry's case seemed to be hopeless, and they had no idea what The Thinker was plotting. On top of that, they still didn't know what had happened to Caitlin. He had been sitting by her side the whole time as she lay there resting peacefully. Harry sighed and once again took her hand, which were now free of restraints thanks to Ruth. He had been thinking about what to say to her when she finally woke up. Should he bring up the fact that she mumbled his name in his sleep?

 _Maybe in the form of a joke..._

"Sorry it took so long, _somebody_ insisted on stopping to answer a few questions from the press which turned into a full blown interview with a photo-shoot at the end… I had to fake an emergency to get us out of there," came Wally's voice from the cortex.

"Oh please, you loved it - WHAT HAPPENED?!" Ralph yelled as he and Wally walked into the medical wing.

"Be quiet! You'll wake her," hissed Harry as he turned to glower at Ralph.

"Is she going to be okay," Wally asked apprehensively.

"We had a medic patch her up so she'll be fine. In the meantime, we should get to work on figuring out what The Thinker is up to."

"Oh right, our friend downstairs actually gave us a lead," said Wally.

"Wait, but the meta-human we captured isn't a bus meta," Harry said.

"No, but she made some sort of comment about how we'll soon get what's coming to us, so I tried to get some information out of her once she was locked up. She was mostly going off about how we'd all pay etc. etc. but she accidentally let slip that there are some sort of secret meta-human meetings."

"And I'm only finding about this now? I could have been working on locating them!"

Wally shook his head. "From what I gathered, they move their meeting locations frequently so we'll have to follow a meta directly there. We will probably make more progress by waiting for another meta to surface and tracking them."

Harry nodded, calming down somewhat. He realized that going on a wild goose-chase would be a waste of time and energy, as well as potentially ruining their chance to infiltrate the meta meetings. Then he said, "You two get some rest. We'll work on a strategy tomorrow."

"What about you?" Ralph chimed in.

"I've got to take care of Caitlin."

"We can take shifts," Wally suggested.

"No, I've got it covered. If anything, you can see if Joe and Iris need your help. Otherwise, save your energy for tomorrow."

They nodded and left. Wally, who looked nervous, returned minutes later with Big Belly Burger.

"There's something I need to tell you," Wally stammered as a smiling Harry took the bag from his grasp.

"What?"

"J-Jesse and I are going out again," Wally said, bracing himself.

Harry stopped mid-way through taking a burger out of the takeout bag and, staring at Wally, said, "So?"

"You're not mad?"

"Why would I be? That's your business. Besides, I like you, Wally. You're good for her," Harry said as he continued to take out the contents of the bag.

"Really?!" Wally beamed.

"Well bringing me Big Belly Burger is definitely helping your case," Harry said as he began to dig into his dinner.

Wally laughed. "That's great. Okay cool, then I'll just leave you two alone," he said, making a smooth exit.

"Wha-" Harry began but his attention was drawn to Caitlin as she began to stir. He quickly put down his food and wiped his hands before moving to her side.

"Snow…" Harry whispered. He was suddenly nervous.

"Harry?" Caitlin said in a raspy voice. Harry quickly passed her a glass of water and helped her drink. "Thanks," Caitlin said with a small smile.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked.

"Fine. Just a little sore is all," came her tired reply.

"Snow what happened?" Harry asked quickly.

Caitlin winced as she attempted to sit up.

"Hey, hey, take it easy," Harry said softly as he adjusted her pillow and helped her sit up. Caitlin looked up into his eyes and he drew back slightly.

"I-I don't know honestly. I only remember pieces…"

Sensing that she was straining herself, Harry said, "It's okay, don't force yourself. Just focus on resting up. We need our doctor back." He smiled at her and there was a twinkle in his eyes as he did so.

Caitlin smiled back but her smile soon faltered when her stomach grumbled. She blushed as Harry laughed.

"Wally brought us some Big Belly Burger but I'm under strict instructions to only give you this special soup that the medic so graciously prepared for you," Harry said, moving to bring her some food.

Caitlin groaned, "Seriously? I was really craving a burger too…"

"Too bad."

"Hang on," Caitlin started, "If I say I'm allowed, then I'm allowed. If you refuse, you'll be going against the doctor's instructions."

"Not if that doctor is also the patient," Harry said, "but nice try."

"Okay well what kind of soup is it?"

"Potato-leek," Harry said, putting the soup on a tray that he wheeled towards her.

Caitlin looked down at the soup glumly. Then her face lit up.

"I'm allergic to pistachios! What if there are nuts in here? The medic wouldn't have had access to my chart and wouldn't have known that. I could die if I eat this," Caitlin said in a dramatic tone and then giggled.

Harry looked at her sharply and Caitlin's smile faded, replaced with a questioning one. "We were all really worried about you, Caitlin. I'd appreciate it if you didn't joke about your death."

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that…" Caitlin replied. There was an awkward silence before Caitlin spoke up again, "Um, sorry, not to be rude or anything but why are you here, Harry? I mean I'm sure Cisco or Iris could have stayed with me. Why you?"

"Ah well Ramon had to go off to Earth-19, and Iris is busy with Barry's case," Harry answered, suddenly feeling nervous again. Why was she asking him that?

"Oh that makes sense," Caitlin nodded but she seemed slightly disappointed. The disappointment surprised her but she chose to ignore it, choosing instead to ask, "How is Barry's case going?"

"Not good. All of the evidence points to him and he refuses to tell the court about his identity as The Flash. He also refuses to break out of jail if he gets convicted, not that I blame him," Harry said solemnly.

"Yeah I guess we both know a little bit about living on the run, don't we? Not the best feeling in the world," Caitlin said with an humourless chuckle. Then her stomach betrayed her again, this time with a louder grumble. "Look Harry, I'm really not going to eat this soup," she said, "And I don't even know this medic. Who says she can cook?"

"Fine, if you're going to be stubborn I have no choice but to force feed you."

Caitlin's eyes widened and she blushed slightly at the prospect, "No no no, I'm perfectly capable of feeding myself, thanks! Just, could you maybe get me some soup from the grocery store? I was serious about the nuts. I can give you a list of which ones are safe."

"Okay. I'll send Wally."

After Wally kindly brought Caitlin her favourite tomato soup, Harry and Caitlin enjoyed dinner together. They exchanged light-hearted banter, choosing to ignore all of the threats looming overhead to take a well-deserved break from the chaos.

"You know Harry, your bedside manner has significantly improved since we first met you," Caitlin said as Harry cleaned up, "We did a great job training you."

Harry merely grunted, causing Caitlin to chuckle. Suddenly Harry remembered that she had said his name in her sleep and he began contemplating whether or not to bring it up. His musings didn't go unnoticed, however, and Caitlin looked at him with worry.

"Is everything alright?"

"Hmm, yeah why?"

"No it's just that you have a very intense look on your face."

Harry stopped and looked at her intensely, causing Caitlin's curiosity to grow. Then letting out a long sigh he glanced sideways then upwards, trying to find a way to bring it up. But just then, Caitlin gasped.

"I just remembered something that might help us defeat The Thinker!" Caitlin exclaimed. She sat up a little to quickly and winced in pain.

Harry was at her side in an instant, "Careful, Snow. Wait but what do you mean?"

Ignoring her pain, she grabbed his hands in her excitement and began to explain. "I was watching this show a while back where the main character was dealing with a telepathic creature and they used a technique that may work in our case as well."

Caitlin went on to describe the technique and when she was finished, Harry stood up as the excitement began to build up in him as well and said, "Snow, that might actually work." That was when Caitlin realized she was holding his hands and quickly withdrew her grasp, praying that Harry wouldn't comment. Although he noticed, he didn't say anything and instead chose to continue his train of thought, "But we still need to find out what he has planned… Oh well we can worry about all that tomorrow. You just get some rest. I'll be in my room, just text me if you need me."

Once he mentioned it, Caitlin realized how tired she really was. She gave Harry a small smile and said, "Goodnight, Harry. And thank you for taking care of me."

Harry returned the small smile and wished her goodnight as he made his way to the entrance of the medical wing. Just before leaving, he impulsively added, "Do you dream about Harry Potter a lot?"

"What? No… why do you ask?" Caitlin asked sleepily.

"No reason. Goodnight," Harry said, rushing out of the medical wing. His mind was racing, filled with thoughts of telepathic super-villains, secret meta-human societies, and, of course, Caitlin. He tried to reason that it was because she was a close friend and she had just been hurt, not because she had said his name in her sleep. He paused for a moment, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and continued walking to his room.

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Thanks for reading! Feedback is always appreciated.


	3. Preparing for the storm

Warning: This chapter contains character death.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash, Harry Potter, or One Direction.

 **Chapter 3: Preparing for the storm**

Caitlin lay awake on her cot, bored out of her mind. She had been awake for almost an hour and couldn't go back to sleep. She had of course thought to text Harry but discovered that her phone was missing. Caitlin eventually remembered seeing a smashed phone beside her when she passed out and cursed her luck. The next thing she tried was moving out of bed but a searing pain in her side that made her dizzy with every attempt of movement told her to stay put. Her only remaining option was to lay still and hope someone would show up.

As she lay there, memories of the moments before she passed out came back to her. The same images she saw in her delirious state came back to her and she shuddered. However, Caitlin was unable to remember what happened directly beforehand. Why had she been there? She didn't even remember driving there or taking a taxi.

 _Odd… The last thing I remember before my faceoff with Amunet was eating dinner… Ugh that ravioli was revolting, I've got to remember never to order from them again._

Her thoughts were interrupted by Harry's appearance in the medical wing. He came bearing a breakfast of tea and fruit for Caitlin, and coffee and a muffin for himself.

"Good morning," Harry said with a fake smile. He was attempting to hide his chagrin from the fact that he hadn't slept well because he was looking up what other 'Harry' Caitlin could have been dreaming about… and other ways to defeat The Thinker and prevent Barry from going to jail because he definitely had his priorities straight.

"Morning. I forgot to tell you I broke my phone, otherwise I would have texted you," Caitlin said apologetically as Harry passed her the food. Upon seeing the dark circles under his eyes she added, "Although it's probably best I didn't disturb you. You look like you had a restless night."

"What, no. I'm fine. By the way, do you listen to One Direction?"

Caitlin giggled, "First Harry Potter, now One Direction? What's with all these random questions?"

"Nevermind, it's nothing. Have you remembered anything about how you ended up passed out with shards of metal in your side?" Harry deflected quickly. Caitlin proceeded to tell him about Amunet, the bodies, and how there was a blackout period between her being at her apartment and facing Amunet.

"That's strange. Where did you order that ravioli from? Maybe it was drugged."

"It was some new restaurant called Bella. That would explain the weird taste."

"When Dibny and Wally get here, we'll get started on investigating the area."

As Caitlin and Harry finished their breakfast, Iris walked in and sat next to Caitlin on the cot. "Hey Caitlin, how are you feeling?" she asked with a sad smile on her face. It was evident that Iris was exhausted and stressed out from the case.

"I'm good, just can't move too much. How are you?" Caitlin asked, taking hold of Iris' hand. Iris' facade broke down and she began to cry as Caitlin consoled her.

When she had calmed down, Iris said, "I'm sorry, it's just been a really stressful couple of days and I've been trying to be strong but it's getting to the point where I'm losing hope."

"You are strong Iris. Both you and Barry. You'll get through this and it _will_ get better, I promise," Caitlin said firmly.

Harry took the opportunity to chime in, "We have some new leads on The Thinker and the bus metas as well so there is some good news."

Iris gave him a watery smile, "Thanks Harry," then turning back to Caitlin, "and thank you too." Then, wiping her eyes, she stood. "Now then, fill me in on these new leads. I can stay and help today before Barry's trial starts tomorrow."

After they had finished explaining everything, Iris said, "Well I think I can help with the secret meetings issue. Instead of waiting for a meta, we can possibly track one of them now." Without waiting for the inevitable questions, she walked out, leaving Caitlin and Harry to exchange quizzical looks. When she returned, Iris was holding a jacket.

"We found this at the warehouse shortly after The Weeper ran off and I think it's his," Iris explained. "Cisco can use this to vibe him and then we have our in to the secret meetings, assuming he attends them."

"And that he's alive," Harry said gravely.

"Either way, we need to contact Cisco. Hopefully his business on Earth-19 is all sorted out," Caitlin said, then added with a sigh, "and hopefully I can get up soon and be useful."

"No way, you sit right there until you've healed up," Harry said sternly.

"Yes mom," Caitlin said, rolling her eyes.

Iris gave them a small smile. Then something occurred to her, "Hey why didn't you just turn Killer Frost and heal yourself? Also, why is Cisco on Earth-19? We're strapped for metas on _our_ side enough as it is."

"Ah well, every time I use Frost to heal significant wounds, she gains more control over me…" Caitlin said uncomfortably, thinking back to a particularly rough night she had while still working under Amunet when she discovered this piece of information.

"As for Ramon, he went to Earth-19 to help Gypsy with a cover story," Harry said distractedly. His eyes never left Caitlin as he wondered if she was still insecure about her alter ego. He made a mental note to talk to her about it later.

Iris looked between the two of them and said, "Well at any rate, we have somewhere to start when Cisco does come back. Where are Wally and Ralph? They should have been here by now."

"Remember, we can't tell them about the plan to take down The Thinker in case we need to use them as pawns," Harry said, earning indignant looks from both Iris and Caitlin. "What?"

"You can't call our friends pawns!" Caitlin exclaimed, "And here I was thinking your bedside manner had improved…"

"Apparently only for you," Iris mouthed to Caitlin, causing her eyes to widen.

Thankfully, Caitlin was saved by the arrival of Wally and Ralph. Iris jumped straight to business, instructing Ralph and Wally to check out Bella, and Harry to contact Cisco. Iris would stay at S.T.A.R. Labs to help out Ralph and Wally, and take care of Caitlin. After about an hour, they regrouped.

"Ramon said he'll be here in half an hour," Harry reported.

"That's great," Iris said before turning to Ralph and Wally.

Ralph and Wally exchanged nervous glances before Ralph said, "Well as it turns out, Bella doesn't even serve ravioli."

"Yeah and they have no record of your phone number or anything either," Wally added.

Caitlin cursed under her breath, "I'm so stupid! I just got that number from some random stranger I met earlier that day at Jitter's. Honestly, I should have been suspicious when they recited the number by heart…"

"Well at least we can trace the number," Iris said.

"No, my cell fell out of my pocket when I was facing Amunet. I imagine whoever found me there must have been too busy dealing with me and the other bodies to have picked it up."

"Wait… what are you talking about? What other bodies?" Iris asked.

"Oh I forgot I didn't tell you," Caitlin said before repeating everything she told Harry earlier that morning, along with his theory that she may have been drugged.

"There were no other bodies when we found you. Not just that, there were no signs of a major bloodbath having happened there either," Iris insisted.

"Maybe Amunet had the place cleared out before you arrived," Wally suggested.

"No, something isn't right here," Iris said. Then addressing Caitlin she asked, "Do you remember what the person who gave you the number looked like?"

"It was a woman with short brown hair who seemed like she was in her 30's or early 40's. She was wearing sunglasses… I'm not sure if this is going to help."

Just then, Cisco arrived through a breach. "Caitlin!" he exclaimed, running towards her before Harry intercepted him.

"Easy there, Ramon," he said, earning a withering look from Cisco. Then Cisco went to Caitlin's side and asked her how she was.

"Sorry Cisco, but it's probably best if we vibe The Weeper as soon as possible, in case the meeting is taking place sometime soon," Iris said apologetically.

"Of course," said Cisco, who was satisfied after seeing that Caitlin was okay. He proceeded to vibe The Weeper's location. "We're in luck. The Weeper was discussing the meeting with a sketchy looking dude and apparently they're meeting tonight at some abandoned warehouse. I'll bring up the coordinates now."

Everyone except Caitlin followed Cisco out to the cortex.

"I think we should go there now and set up cameras so that we can review the footage if we need to," Iris said. The others nodded in agreement and set out to accomplish their task.

After gathering their equipment, Cisco created a breach and Ralph, Wally, Harry, and Cisco all arrived at the location of the warehouse. However, when they arrived there, they were met with a shocking sight.

"What the hell?" Harry said.

"What's going on?" Iris asked through the earpiece.

"The whole place is on fire," replied Cisco.

"Try to see if there's anyone around or if you can find any other clues."

"Uh guys," said Ralph, who had ventured closer to the ignited warehouse before the rest of them, "I think I found something."

On the ground lay the body of Amunet, with a stake jutting out from her torso. The stake had a message tied to it that read, 'Understanding the human mind just teaches us how to manipulate it better.'(Source: /poem/655747/psychology/) As horrid as the scene before them was, Harry was able to keep a level head and carefully retrieve the message so that they could examine it further for potential clues.

The team breached back to S.T.A.R. Labs as quickly as possible. From the solemn looks on their faces, Iris refrained from bombarding them with questions. Harry handed her the note and said gravely, "This was attached to the dead body of Amunet Black."

Iris' face hardened and she spoke in an authoritative tone, "Cisco, vibe The Weeper again."

In a daze, Cisco reached for the jacket and attempted to vibe The Weeper. "It-it's black. I can't reach him." Then turning to the group he said, "He's dead.


	4. Distractions

Disclaimer: I do not own The Flash

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Distractions**

After recovering from the shocking display of events, everyone took up tasks to distract themselves from the recent horror that had occurred, as well as the adversities still to come. Harry and Cisco were hard at work on the message, while Ralph and Wally decided to check out Caitlin's apartment in case there were some clues as to what had happened there. Iris meanwhile tended to Caitlin.

"I see that the soup you were supposed to eat is still here," Iris smirked at Caitlin, burying her fears and trying to keep things light.

Caitlin made a face, "Do you blame me?"

Iris chuckled softly and shook her head, "Well there aren't a whole lot of other instructions here besides 'Stay in bed' and 'Eat soup' and we're not supposed to change your bandages until tomorrow. Just let me know if there's anything else I can get you to make things more comfortable."

"Actually, there is. I haven't showered in like two days and even though the pain is getting better, I still don't want to risk opening up the wounds. Would you mind helping me take a sponge bath?"

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry I didn't even think about that!"

"No worries, we've all been a little preoccupied as of late."

"I'll be right back, I'll just grab you some clothes." Iris said before leaving the medical wing.

Caitlin sighed and closed her eyes for a brief moment before she heard someone approaching. Assuming it was Iris, she said, "I'm going to need some help taking off my shirt-" She froze mid-sentence as she saw Harry walk in, who also froze at her words. "Oh sorry, I thought you were Iris."

Harry cleared his throat, "Yes well, Ramon went to see Felicity Smoak to see if she could help out since we haven't had any luck with the message so I thought I would see if I could help out here…"

There was a silence as Caitlin watched Harry, who was looking everywhere except at Caitlin. She hadn't been embarrassed, probably due to the fact that she was a doctor but Harry definitely seemed uncomfortable. Finally, Harry broke the silence by clearing his throat again, "Do you- I mean is West coming back or do you need help with your shirt?"

Caitlin shook her head and smiled, "Thanks but Iris will be back soon." There was silence again before Caitlin spoke again, "I think we should lure out The Thinker."

"What? Are you crazy? That's extremely dangerous."

"Yes but I really think our strategy will work. Besides, if we take down the mastermind, it's likely that the other metas will back down or at the very least be lost without someone to guide them. If we try to get to the bus metas first, there is a higher chance that The Thinker will shut us down before we can even get to him."

"You have a point there, Snow."

Caitlin smiled, "Well it was your comment about Harry Potter that got me thinking about it. The Thinker is like Voldemort, and the evil bus metas are his death eaters. If we take down Voldemort, we'll have more chances of overtaking the death eaters than the other way around."

Before Harry could respond, Iris returned. "Sorry it took so long. I was looking for this," she said as she handed Caitlin a cellphone. "It was my old one and I don't use it anymore. Wally texted saying that he and Ralph found a lead that they're going to follow and they'll keep us updated."

"We're going to bait The Thinker," Harry stated after she was finished.

"That's insane-" Iris began before Caitlin cut her off.

"No but think about it. We have a plan now, and if we get rid of him, this will all be over."

"What about Barry?" Iris asked. "How will we prove that he's innocent if we get rid of the real culprit?"

"The wife," Harry said before walking over to retrieve something from his bag. "I've been working on this but I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. In essence, it's a serum that, once injected into someone, will force them to tell the truth."

"How is that even possible?" Caitlin inquired.

Harry sighed before reluctantly revealing, "Well I may have went to see if there was anything on the spiritual side that may help. I uncovered an herb from Badab-e-Surt on my Earth that is supposed to have that effect. I've been working on the serum since Allen left to go into the speed force to help with interrogating metas but I haven't been 100% successful and this is my latest untested sample."

"I thought you didn't believe in all that hocus pocus?" Caitlin teased.

Iris cut off their banter by saying, "Well we should probably get a move on with testing it since Barry's trial is tomorrow."

"We need a test subject. This is the strongest batch I've made and I don't know what the side effects will be," Harry stated seriously.

"I'll do it," Caitlin said, earning surprised looks from both Iris and Harry. "Iris, you need to be there for Barry, and the rest of the team is hard at work dealing with the message, the metas, and now our plan to lure out The Thinker. I'm pretty useless right now so it makes sense to test it on me."

"No," Harry said harshly. "I just said it would be dangerous. We're not testing it on you."

"Yes you are," Caitlin said stubbornly. While he was distracted, Iris took the serum from his grasp.

"West!" Harry protested but Iris cut him off.

"West-Allen, thank you very much. And Caitlin's right. She's the most logical choice. We can't test it on a random stranger, and everyone else is playing an important part to stop The Thinker and save Barry. If worst comes to worse, Caitlin can use Frost to heal." As she said it, she gave Caitlin an apologetic look, knowing what that would mean for her and hoping it wouldn't have to come to that.

"No. We are not going to risk Snow's life," Harry said as he attempted to wrestle the serum back from Iris.

At this, Cisco, who had returned from Star City and had heard the arguing from afar, walked in and held Harry back. "I'm sorry Harry, but they're both right. This may be our only hope to save Barry."

"Ramon, let go of me," Harry bit out dangerously but Cisco didn't budge. Iris used a syringe to extract the serum before injecting Caitlin.

"How do you feel?" Iris asked cautiously.

"My arm's a little sore but other than that, not very different."

Cisco loosed his grip on Harry, who stormed out of the medical wing. Cisco walked out after him, leaving Iris alone to test Caitlin's vitals, following Caitlin's instructions of course.

Cisco finally caught up with Harry, who had stormed off to a bar but had yet to order. Panting, Cisco said, "Man, you don't look it but you've got a lot of stamina." Harry glared in response and ordered himself a drink.

"Come on, Harry. Caitlin's okay. And you know this was the right thing to do. Caitlin wasn't in any real danger to begin with and this may be our only chance to save Barry."

"How do you know she's okay? We walked out of there five seconds after she was injected," Harry growled. "And you all keep saying that, 'Save Barry, save Barry' does no one else matter? Does Snow not matter to you?"

It was Cisco's turn to be angry, "How can you even say that? Caitlin's like a sister to me! Of course I care about her, just like I care about everyone else on the team, including you. And I'm not stupid. You're not mad because we injected a friend, you're mad because it was _her_."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry demanded.

"Think about it, why did it matter so much to you when she was hurt, and now again when she was injected with a truth-telling serum? She makes you irrational because, despite what logic tells you, you can't stand the thought of her being even remotely in danger."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry said coldly while taking a sip of his drink. "Of course it mattered that she was hurt, she's a friend."

Cisco sighed, "Whatever, man. I guess this isn't the best time to be bringing this up. At any rate, we should go back and see if the serum worked." When Harry didn't budge, Cisco walked out without him, and breached himself back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

Back in the medical wing, Iris had finished her checkup of Caitlin, and even helped her with a sponge bath. It had been an hour and so far there were no signs that the serum had worked. Caitlin was still able to lie about her name, age etc. and the two of them were dejected. Cisco appeared shortly afterwards and was equally discouraged at the results.

Then it occurred to her. "What if we didn't use a large enough dosage?" Caitlin asked. Cisco and Iris exchanged hopeful looks.

"Let's find out," Cisco said, preparing the syringe. They injected her with the same amount because they figured the first dosage was probably still in her system.

"What's your name?" Iris asked.

 _Burt_

"Caitlin Snow," she responded, then looked up in surprise.

 _Eliza_

"Caitlin Snow," she repeated, and slowly the excitement built up inside her.

"It worked!" Cisco screamed, and Iris laughed in delight. "What's your favourite colour?"

 _Red_

"Blue."

"How old are you?"

 _20_

"30"

"What's your favourite band?"

 _Our Lady Peace_

"Too hard to decide on just one."

"Alright that's enough Cisco," Iris chided, but she couldn't keep the smile off her face. "We still need to figure out a way to inject Marlize DeVoe."

"Yeah but we should also test the time-limit on this thing. Oh and someone needs to tell Joe, Cecile, and Barry the good news."

"No," said Harry who had suddenly appeared at the entrance of the medical bay. "The less people who know, the better. We don't want The Thinker to sabotage our plan."

"Ah so we're back to using logic now, are we?" Cisco said with a smirk.

Harry threw a half-hearted glare at Cisco before Iris spoke, "He's right. The four of us are going to have to steer clear of the trial. I'll go call my dad to let him know I'm not going to be there tomorrow but I'll make sure to keep it vague. Cisco, can you get started on tracking Marlize?"

"Yes ma'am," he said with a salute before practically skipping to the cortex. Things were finally starting to look up again and Cisco was planning on savouring every second of it. Iris exited the medical wing after him, leaving Harry alone with Caitlin.

"I guess you're going to be testing me then," Caitlin said with a half smile.

"It's getting late," Harry said, turning away from her. When Cisco had left him at the bar, Harry's mind had started reeling as he thought about Cisco's words. He had cut off that train of thought by returning to S.T.A.R. Labs. But now that he was alone with Caitlin again, the thoughts were getting harder to ignore. He decided it was best to keep his distance. "I'll check up on Wally and Dibny. Just keep trying to lie until you're able to; you don't need another person here."

As he made to leave, Caitlin asked, "What's wrong, Harry? Are you still angry about being disobeyed?" There was a hint of humour in her voice before she turned serious again. "But hey look, your serum worked and I'm perfectly fine."

Harry sighed before turning to face her, "No, you were right, it was the most logical decision."

There it was again - that feeling of disappointment at his words. _What was I expecting him to say?_ Aloud, Caitlin pushed him again, "Then what is it? You're being distant."

Harry looked at her, an intense look in his eyes. Caitlin blushed slightly but said nothing. After a long pause, he asked, "Did you dream about me?"

"Yes," Caitlin said automatically. Then, when she realized what she had said, she looked bewildered. Her surprise turned to confusion, then to realization at the same time as Harry clued in.

"The serum makes you respond," they said in unison. Their wonderment was short-lived however when Caitlin realized what the question was and Harry realized what the answer was.

Caitlin quickly explained, "Well it was a vision of how you stood up to Amunet as Jitter's."

"Ah, I see. So you were just reliving moments where Amunet terrorized you," he said with an unreadable expression.

"No, not just that," Caitlin answered automatically again, covering her mouth as soon as she realized what had happened. This time her blush was fully visible.

Harry observed her curiously, wondering how to proceed. On one hand he really wanted to know what she meant by that, but on the other, he didn't want to take advantage of the serum's effects on her. After contemplating for a few more minutes, he carefully asked, "Do you want to continue this conversation?"

"No," came Caitlin's automatic response, followed by, "thank you." She shot Harry a grateful look as her face returned to its normal colour.

He gave her a small smile before starting with less invasive questions, "What did you think about this book?" he asked as he picked up a random medical book off the shelf.

 _It was good_

"It has about one useful chapter but the rest is too convoluted to be of much use."

They continued on this way until it had almost been two hours since she had been injected for the second time and they were both exhausted. Iris and Cisco had decided to stay in the spare rooms in S.T.A.R. Labs to avoid running into The Thinker and exposing their plan. Iris had turned in soon after she finished her phone call. Cisco found Marlize relatively easily, and after preparing a game plan for the following day, he also called it a night. Harry and Caitlin were close to passing out when the two hour mark hit.

"What's my favourite food?"

 _McDonald's_

"McDonald's"

"No it-"

They both looked at each other before exclaiming, "FINALLY!" at the same time. Then they both laughed.

"Okay shoo, I need to sleep," Caitlin said, signalling for Harry to leave.

Harry stretched and with a yawn, said, "Goodnight, Snow. Text us if you need anything."

"Goodnight, Harry."

Left alone at last, one of Caitlin's last thoughts before drifting off was that she hoped Harry would appear in her dreams again. She was too tired to fight the thought and that night, she got her wish.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I may not be uploading for a while because I'm going on a trip and then have to jump right into preparations for an upcoming local event so I apologize for that. Also, I'm low-key terrified for the finale because I don't know where they're going with Caitlin and Harry's respective story lines but I'm definitely still excited as well. See you somewhere on the other side of the finale!


	5. Judgement Day

Disclaimer: I do not own The Flash

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Judgement Day**

"Rise and shine," came Iris's enthusiastic voice.

Caitlin groaned and covered her face with her hands. "Five more minutes," she mumbled but Iris wasn't having it.

"Come on! It's the big day!"

As Iris bustled around the room, Caitlin slowly opened her eyes, accepting that she wasn't about to get any peace anytime soon. "Hang on, why are you here? Shouldn't you be gearing up for Barry's trial?"

"Well it's still early and I thought I'd change the bandage on your wound before heading out."

Caitlin reached for her phone and her eyes widened. "It's 6:30 in the morning! Iris, Harry and I went to bed late last night!" she whined and then rubbed her eyes. Suddenly she remembered what she had dreamed about the previous night - visions of her with Harry. Some stemmed off of memories but others were different. They weren't anything crazy; just the two of them going for a walk, or driving around. But all of the visions felt warm.

Iris smirked, "Oh did you now?" Caitlin was glad her face was covered because she felt her face heat up at the comment. But Iris seemed to be a bit high strung and she just jumped onto the next topic without waiting for a reply. "So I've got Ruth's instructions here. Are you ready to roll?"

Noticing her anxious behaviour, Caitlin pulled the pillow off her face and reached out to put a hand on Iris's arm. With a soft expression, Caitlin spoke, "I know that you're nervous but it's all going to be over soon. We're all set with our plan - or I guess I should say you guys since I won't be of much use. At any rate, you'll have Barry back soon and we've already figured out a way to take down The Thinker so it won't be long before this whole nightmare is in the past."

Iris' shoulders sagged and she smiled sadly at Caitlin. "You're an amazing person, Caitlin, and an even better friend. You know just what to person needs to hear. I honestly don't know what I would do without you." She gave Caitlin's hand a squeeze to which Caitlin smiled. Then Iris turned her attention back to preparing the new bandage.

Cisco and Harry appeared shortly afterwards with breakfast so Iris was once again interrupted but she welcomed the food. Apparently the entire team was a bit on-edge in anticipation of the trial. They all chatted light-heartedly as they ate, choosing to ignore business until it was closer to showtime.

With a sudden gust of wind, Wally and Ralph appeared in the medical wing.

"We've been out on a stake-out all night and you guys are sitting here living it up?!" Ralph exclaimed when he saw the four friends enjoying their breakfast. Caitlin, Cisco, Iris, and Harry all exchanged looks. "Wait a minute, did you actually forget about us?!"

"Who could forget you?" Harry said sarcastically. "More importantly, did you find anything useful or did Wally have to listen to your insufferable nonsense the entire night for nothing?"

Caitlin couldn't help but snicker at that. She blamed the lack of sleep but her reaction didn't go unnoticed. Iris turned to her in surprise, Cisco chuckled, and Harry smirked somewhat proudly.

"Caitlin?! After all we've been through, how could you be so mean to me?" Ralph said dramatically.

"Hey don't look at me; Harry's the one who said it!"

Harry shot Caitlin a withering look and she just grinned back at him mischievously.

"Okay, I hate to break up the party, but we did actually find something," Wally said. "So Caitlin's apartment was clean, but we noticed some suspicious activity near the building next door. There were some hooded figures talking in the alleyway so Ralph stretched out to eavesdrop on their conversation. They were a couple of metahumans and get this, there actually are secret metahuman meetings."

"Wait, how do you know they weren't lying?" Cisco asked.

"We didn't but we decided to follow them anyway."

"Are you insane? Do you realize how dangerous that is? You could have been walking into The Thinker's trap!" Iris exclaimed.

"Well, one of the metas was actually an old friend of mine," Ralph said, "One of the only good ones…"

Wally continued, "Yeah and besides, we need all the information we can to stop this guy from whatever it is he's planning. We don't even know that yet! Anyway, we followed them out to a house and kept a watch on the house from afar but not before planting a microphone on one of the guys, courtesy of Ralph over here."

"Yup, always carry snooping tech with you because you never know when you might need it!" Ralph said.

Harry rolled his eyes as Wally continued, "So _as I was saying,_ the metas had decided to meet up to discuss the capture of Penelope, the meta we have locked up. Apparently, they've been holding meetings since the particle accelerator explosion to decide the best way to use their powers. There has been a divide amongst the group; half of them wanting to use their powers for personal use, and the other half wanting to follow the footsteps of heroes like The Flash, which resulted in pretty much nothing getting done because they were always arguing. Slowly, the more radical members of the group began to go rogue and pursue their personal goals which almost always resulted in being arrested or in death. Penelope was the last of the radicals so now all the remaining members are the selfless kind. Once we realized this, we went in."

"You didn't!" Iris nearly screamed, "Wally do you realize how stupid that was? What if we had a repeat of the Amunet situation?! Also, do you people know how to call for backup? We were literally all here at S.T.A.R. Labs last night-"

"Wait why?" Wally asked.

"Doesn't matter! What matters is that you two were completely reckless. You put not only your own lives at risk, but also ours by potentially revealing your identities had you been caught!"

"Relax Iris. That's not what happened," Ralph spoke. "Besides I told you, one of them was my old friend. We didn't want to bother the rest of the team since it was the night before Barry's trial and we thought you would have enough to worry about. Anyway, we went in, in our costumes of course, and asked them to help us. They weren't sure at first but they came around, and now they're willing to help us take down The Thinker!" Ralph had a goofy grin on his face which did nothing to affect the scowl on Iris' face.

"'We've agreed to meet with them tonight at a different location. They will text us the details later today." Wally added.

"What makes you think we can trust them?" Iris asked.

"We'll have to trust them," came Harry's voice, much to Iris' surprise. "We need all the help we can get. Yes we have a plan to take down The Thinker but what about the bus metas? The more metas we have on our side, the better."

"But what if they turn out to be evil!" Iris exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air, exasperated that Harry was agreeing with what she saw as the side of madness.

This time Caitlin spoke, "Well at least we'll have a chance to become familiar with all of their powers and hopefully their weaknesses as well, as opposed to running in there oblivious to what we're up against."

"Snow's right. At any rate, it's done now and we've got more pressing matters to worry about. Barry's trial is in an hour, and we need to get ready if we want this plan to work."

"'Hold on, hold on, what's happening? Also, what's this about having a plan to take down The Thinker?" Wally inquired.

"Sorry, there's no time to explain. Just trust that we have everything under control," Iris answered shortly, still somewhat angry with both Wally and Ralph. "'Alright everyone out. I need to change Caitlin's bandages. Cisco, you and Harry work on our plan. Wally and Ralph, go get some food. It's going to be a long day and you'll need your energy. Also, keep us updated on the details of the metahuman meeting."

Everyone jumped to action. Cisco and Harry loaded the serum into something similar to a tranquilizer gun so that they could inject Marlize. Harry had also transformed some of the serum into gas form for future use. Wally and Ralph left the lab, eager to get some food in their system.

"Finally, some peace!" Iris exclaimed with a half-smile, earning her a chuckle from Caitlin. Iris' smile was soon replaced with a frown as she took off Caitlin's old bandage. "That's weird. I could have sworn the shards of metal Amunet usually uses were bigger than this…"

Caitlin looked down and said, "Yeah, that was definitely not caused by Amunet. This looks more like a bunch of needle puncture wounds… Hang on, what did the medic say about this?"

"I wasn't here but Harry or Cisco should know more. I'll go get them."

Returning with Harry, Iris reached for the instructions left by Ruth. "So you're sure Ruth distinctly said that she removed shards of metal from Caitlin's side?"

"Yes, I'm sure, West!"

"West-Allen," Iris said absentmindedly as she finished reading the instructions. "Do we still have the soup that Ruth left?"

"Right here," Harry said, glancing at Caitlin pensively for a moment. Caitlin seemed to be lost in thought. "Snow? What's wrong?"

Caitlin shook her head. "I'm just trying to remember what exactly it was that happened after I ate dinner that day. The more I think about it, the more I'm sure the food was drugged."

Iris took the soup from Harry and said, "I'll get Cisco to run some tests on the soup to see if it's drugged after he finishes contacting Gypsy." Turning to Caitlin she offered a brief explanation, "We tried to get ahold of Ruth through the contact number she gave but there was no response. Cisco also tried to vibe her and when that didn't work, he tried to locate her by searching for anyone vibrating at a different frequency but aside from Harry, there doesn't seem to be anyone from another Earth here at the moment. It's looking more and more like Ruth was working with your kidnappers." Then Iris turned and left the medical wing.

Caitlin had an intense look on her face. She was sick of this. First she was kidnapped and left out on the street for hours. Then, she was rescued by her friends before being left unsupervised with another enemy who did who knows what to her while she was unconscious. She didn't blame her friends, of course, but she was beyond frustrated. Caitlin mustered all of her strength and suddenly sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the cot. There was a searing pain in her side but Caitlin was determined not to let her discomfort show.

"SNOW! What are you-" Harry yelled before seeing the look of defiance in her eyes.

Caitlin looked up at Harry and spoke quietly, "Look, I don't know what I did to deserve this, but I do know that I'm sick of lying around while there are people out there terrorizing this city. We're already short staffed and now we've got another thing on our plate so the more people working on it, the better."

Harry wanted to object but he knew she was right and he didn't think he could convince her to stay either so he simply nodded. Iris walked in and confirmed that the soup was drugged but they were still waiting on results for exactly what kind of drug it was. She also chose not to argue with Caitlin, probably because she was so preoccupied with thoughts of the trial.

"Alright, Cisco and I are going to get the serum into Marlize," Iris said. "Cisco said Gypsy had only met Ruth a month ago and had been working with her since then but they weren't that close. She's going to try and look for her and breach over later today to update us. The two of you will be on standby so someone can meet Gypsy when she comes through and for when Wally has any updates on the meta meeting. Cisco said to check up on the test results of the soup in an hour to see if it was fatal or not."

They nodded at Iris, who then left them alone again. Caitlin attempted to stand up but stumbled slightly. Harry grabbed her by the waist so she didn't fall, but she wasn't able to hide her pain as his hand brushed against her wound and she cried out.

"Snow, don't be stupid. Just rest up and let us handle this," Harry said, which, in his mind, was an attempt to be kind.

Caitlin glared at him and removed his hands from her waist as she said, "I'm fine! Maybe if _somebody_ didn't go and stick his hand right over my injury, I wouldn't have screamed!"

"Yeah well sorry about that but that has nothing to do with the fact that you _stumbled_ while merely trying to _stand up._ "

"Well _excuse me_ for losing my balance when standing up after two days of being bedridden!" Caitlin exclaimed before brushing past Harry on her way to the cortex.

She sat down, ready to deal with the day's upcoming action. Harry had followed her, trying to come up with something that would convince her to go back to bed. When he couldn't think of anything, he settled with silently glaring at Caitlin from the other side of the computers.

Caitlin raised an eyebrow, "Do you have something to say?"

Harry said nothing so Caitlin turned her attention to the computers. When she saw that there was nothing new, she sighed. There was silence for a few moments before something occurred to Caitlin and she said, "According to the instructions, we were supposed to change my bandage today, so clearly Ruth wanted to distract us from the trial. As for the wound itself, I wonder if I was injected with something."

"Probably just something to knock you out," Harry suggested.

"But then what about my visions? Clearly it didn't happen because there is no trace of metal shards in me, and only these needle marks."

There was a pause as Caitlin contemplated whether or not to voice her next thought.

Harry noticed and asked, "What is it, Snow?"

"What did you… what did you do with Amunet's body?"

"We contacted the police and they dealt with her," Harry said, studying Caitlin's reaction.

Caitlin stared blankly at the computer screen in front of her, not making eye contact with Harry. She was thinking about Amunet's death and, even though they weren't friends, Amunet had still given Caitlin work back when she was still figuring things out with her powers. Amunet had also praised her individual abilities which had helped Caitlin come to terms with her counterpart (mind you, Amunet had been holding her hostage at the time but you know…).

Harry suddenly felt the urge to comfort her. _What is wrong with me? These people's sappiness is rubbing off on me…_ He made his way over to Caitlin. _Not_ to comfort her, mind you - just to check if there was any updates on the computer. Caitlin still didn't look at him.

Harry cleared his throat and he asked, "Did you hear back from Wally?"

"No," Caitlin answered, shortly.

"Well that's great. We're just stuck here to sit on our hands while the rest of the team is risking their lives to save lives!" Harry huffed as he plopped down on the chair next to Caitlin.

That finally shook Caitlin from her trance and she said, "Now you know how I feel."

Suddenly there was a notification of an incoming breach in the breach room. They looked at each other briefly before Harry took off towards the room, assuming it was Gypsy with some news, and Caitlin pulled up the security camera to see who it was. What she saw made Caitlin's eyes wide with shock.

* * *

Please review to let me know what you think :)


	6. Judgement Day Part II

So sorry for the late update. Work has been insane as of late. Hope everyone is doing well!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash.

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Judgement Day Part II**

"JESSE! What are you doing here?" Harry yelled has he put down the broom he had haphazardly picked up to use as a weapon on his way to the breach room.

"It's nice to see you too, dad," Jesse said has she came over and hugged her father. Then she stepped back and pulled out some sort of chip from her bag. "Unfortunately this isn't a social call. My team discovered surveillance equipment scattered around our base and our houses as well. We were able to trace the signal back to this Earth but we couldn't pinpoint the exact location. You think you could help us out?"

Taking the chip from Jesse, Harry began to take apart the chip. "Of course I can do it. It's not surprising that your mediocre team couldn't do something as simple as trace a cross-dimensional signal, I mean really? Does, what's his name, Jet, even know how to use a computer? And "your base"? Have you joined the military without telling me?"

Jesse had her arms crossed with a disapproving frown on her face as her father spoke. When he finally stopped, she simply asked, "Are you done?"

Harry stopped to look at her. "...Yeah," he said before returning back to his work.

"First of all, my team is filled with some of the most intelligent, talented, and kind people I have ever met. Yes sure, this Earth's Team Flash may be slightly better equipped to handle meta-human crises but you're forgetting that they've also been doing this for longer than my team. And my teammates are my _friends_ so I would appreciate it if you wouldn't insult them every waking hour of your life," Jesse bit out.

Harry scoffed in response which caused Jesse to roll her eyes before she spoke again, "You know, this is why we were always clashing with each other when you were working with us."

"And yet, here you are. Asking help _me_ for help. Your father who you kicked off your team without a second thought so what? So you and your friends could sit around making jokes while a meta-human was on the loose because you needed some time to "de-stress" and I didn't understand? No, you needed to understand that you keep working at it until you figure it out otherwise innocent people _die_ , Jesse. This isn't a game."

Jesse was speechless. Tears began to form in her eyes as she took in all that Harry had just said.

"Harry…" came a soft voice from the entrance of the breach room. Caitlin, who had slowly made her way to the breach room once she realized their visitor was of the friendly variety. She had caught most of the argument and thought it best to intervene before it got any uglier.

Just then, another breach opened up and Gypsy stepped into the breach room. Looking between the three of them, Gypsy tentatively asked, "Did I interrupt something...? Cisco told me to breach over to update you on Ruth but I can come back..."

Caitlin shook her head, "No that's alright; thanks for coming. Can you fill Harry in on what you've found in the cortex? I'd just like to speak to Jesse for a moment if you don't mind." When Harry didn't budge, Caitlin added, "Or I could just waste another five minutes slowly making my way back to the cortex."

Harry was about to object by saying Jesse could just carry her there in a flash but he thought better of it. He stood and made his way out of the breach room with Gypsy, glancing briefly over at Caitlin as he passed her. He wondered what she was going to say to Jesse. Clearly it was about the argument but Harry's curiosity was now piqued. He felt a mixture of emotions at the moment. On one hand he was relieved at letting it all out but on the other he felt guilty and ashamed. Guilty because part of him knew full well that Jesse and her team were doing what they thought was best. It didn't mean he agreed with them, but the comment about people dying on their watch went too far. He had seen how hurt she was by her words and he wished he could take it all back.

And then there was the shame. He couldn't believe Caitlin had heard all of it. He could hear the disappointment in her voice when she spoke his name. He felt like he let down both her and Jesse all in one fell swoop and he was so ashamed of himself. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of ways to make it up to them quite at that moment because he had to get back to work.

As he arrived in the cortex, he briefly checked to see if there was any activity on the computer or any messages from Wally. Upon seeing nothing, he nodded at Gypsy to begin.

Caitlin and Jesse sat down on the steps leading up to the breach area. They were quiet for a moment as Jesse composed herself. Caitlin reached out and squeezed Jesse's hand and Jesse squeezed back.

"So… do you want to talk about it?" Caitlin finally asked. She didn't want to push Jesse or overstep by commenting on the argument she just witnessed without Jesse's consent.

"How much did you hear?" Jesse asked quietly.

"From when you were defending your friends onward," Caitlin simply said.

Jesse sighed, "It's just so frustrating! He acts like we're a bunch of idiots; like we don't _know_ that we're responsible for the safety of everyone in the city! We're doing the best we can and it's still not enough." Jesse stood and started pacing as she continued. "My team is working so hard and yet we've failed so many times. To add insult to injury, my dad would always berate us - saying we didn't work hard enough, or we should have listened to his plan instead of one of my other teammates' idea - which isn't helpful. I feel so stuck because on one hand, he's my dad, and his ideas _did_ help us out a lot. When he first left, we struggled a lot and got it wrong a lot of the time. But on the other hand, we've all improved a lot, which wasn't possible with my dad constantly vetoing every idea and never letting anyone else's voice be heard except his own. Plus, there were many times where he was wrong and one of my teammates' ideas _would_ have worked had we been able to execute it."

Jesse sat down and sighed again. "Anyway, I'm sorry you had to hear all that and thanks for listening," she said, looking at Caitlin who had been silent throughout her rant.

"I understand what you're saying. I will say this though, don't beat yourself up for every loss. You are doing the best to your ability and that's already so much. You're not a police officer, you haven't had training in this at all and yet here you are, saving the day in the way that you know how to. That's absolutely amazing and I don't think you get enough credit for it. Everyone just seems to take it for granted that you'll figure something out and save the day every single time but the reality of it is that sometimes you can't. There will be times where the bad guy will get away, or people will die but you have to let it go. Take us for example; we've failed countless amounts of times. There have been so many times where the enemy was literally right under our noses and we didn't see it. But it was that bad guy's fault for doing those bad things. We did our best to take them down but that's all we can do. Getting stuck on your losses isn't going to help you. You need to learn what you can from the experience and move on so that hopefully you can use that knowledge to help you prevent it from happening again. It was pretty ignorant of your father to be throwing that in your face but I don't think it was about you or your teammates' capabilities. I think Harry was desperately trying to hold on to you, and protect you in his own way. He probably felt that he needed to constantly prove that he was useful and relevant, which ironically is what got him kicked off your team in the end. I'm not justifying his methods, but I do believe his intentions were good. I also think you did the right thing by voting him off your team so that you could make your own way and not let his negativity set the team against itself."

Then Caitlin added thoughtfully, "Although, I may be a bit biased when I say that because you kicking him off the team was what brought him back here to us." She offered Jesse a crooked smile which Jesse returned.

"Thank you, Caitlin. That really means a lot. I'm going to have to talk to him again, but I think I need a bit of time to calm down or else it'll end up in a shouting fest all over again."

"Whatever you need. And hey, I'm always available to talk if you need me."

Jesse gave Caitlin a hug and they smiled at each other.

"Oh hey, where's Wally? I saw you two on the camera. I didn't know you guys were back together so I was a little shocked but I'm so happy for you guys!" Caitlin asked.

"Yes we're going to give it another shot. And my dad actually said he approves this time which is a miracle," Jesse said. Then she exclaimed, "I'm so sorry! I was so wrapped up in my own problems that I didn't even realize until just now - are you okay? Why did it take you so long to get here from the cortex?"

"Oh yeah, I sort of got kidnapped and stabbed in the side with a bunch of needles or something and just got out of bed today after a few days of being bedridden," Caitlin said casually.

Jesse's eyes widened, "WHA-"

But before she could finish her outburst, Gypsy rushed into the room saying, "You guys should see this."

Upon seeing Caitlin's struggle to stand, Jesse helped her up and took both Gypsy and Caitlin by the arm before running them to the cortex. When they arrived, they saw the television broadcast of Barry's trial playing on one of the big screens. The headline read 'Barry Allen cleared of all charges' as Barry was being led out of the courthouse with Joe and Cecile by his side, surrounded by countless reporters. Then, right on time, Cisco and Iris, who had met up with Ralph and Wally on their way back, walked into the cortex.

When Iris saw the screen, her entire face lit up and tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. Her tears fell when she heard the familiar whoosh behind her, signaling the entrance of a speedster. Her speedster.

"Barry…" Iris whispered before turning around.

Barry, who stood beside a beaming Joe and a watery-eyed Cecile ran up to Iris, lifted her up and kissed her.

When he finally put her back down, Iris asked, "Wait but what happened?"

"I don't know! Marlize was there but she told the court everything. But unfortunately she doesn't seem to know what her husband is planning either, nor where he is at the moment. Apparently they had had a fight last night and he left. Anyway, the judge cleared me of all charges and now Marlize has been taken in for questioning." Barry responded then smiled once again at Iris and she smiled back at him.

"Congratulations you guys," Gypsy said, which prompted the rest of the team to come alive and everyone started hugging each other and laughing.

After the initial surge of energy from their victory faded, Harry spoke, "Alright, we're not done yet. Gypsy was just telling me how she hasn't been able to locate Ruth but she has her father and a few others back on her Earth continuing the search. Wally and Dibny, anything on the meta meeting?"

"Not yet," Wally replied.

"Hang on, what's that?" Gypsy asked, moving towards the table where the message found on Amunet lay abandoned. "This cloth is made out of reshpaca fur. I know for a fact that our Earth is the only one with reshpacas on it so where did you get this?"

"That was found attached to a stake driven through a dead body - Ramon! How did you not realize this was made out of the fur of an animal?" Harry cried out.

"I - How was I supposed to know? It looked like cotton! Do I look like a cloth specialist to you? And you examined it too; why didn't _you_ notice?" Cisco retorted. Harry sputtered in response and Cisco yelled, "HA! That's what I thought."

"Don't you know what this means?" Caitlin interrupted before there could be any bloodshed between the two. "Ruth must be connected to whoever killed Amunet and The Weeper."

"That's a pretty big assumption," Harry said, becoming serious once more.

But before they could deliberate, Barry cut them off, "Okay sorry I have no idea what's going on. Could we maybe get a quick recap?"

The team explained the events of the last few days to Barry, as well as Joe, and Cecile who were also out of the loop. Again, Iris, Caitlin, and Harry were careful to leave out their master plan about actually taking down The Thinker and thankfully no one brought it up.

"So we potentially have four different enemies to deal with - The Thinker and his evil bus metas, Ruth and the kidnappers, Amunet and The Weeper's murderer, and whoever is spying on Earth-2 from our Earth," Harry finished.

"Hey, did anyone check up on the soup?" Cisco asked.

"No sorry, it's been a bit crazy," Caitlin answered.

"Okay I'll go check it out," Cisco said, disappearing to the lab. When he reappeared, his face was pale and he said, "So it looks like we dodged another bullet with that one… The soup was poisoned."

Although most of the team (and guests from other Earths) seemed shocked, Caitlin just sighed and said, "Well at this point I'm not even surprised. I wonder what they hoped to gain from that though. I mean why not just kill me when they kidnapped me? In fact, why even bother kidnapping me at all? Unless they aimed to distract the team, but then they could have done it any number of ways. Why such an elaborate plan?"

"Unless… Caitlin didn't you say earlier that Frost gains more control over you if you use her to heal serious wounds? Maybe the soup was to ensure that you lost control of your powers," Iris suggested.

"That would make sense. It's the best way to cause havoc and distract us on the day of the trial and possibly injure a few of us along the way - no offense Snow. But this has DeVoe written all over it," Harry said.

"Yeah that sick bastard is probably enjoying all of this," Cisco spat, shaking his head, "He's using us as his puppets and putting on some big freakshow or something."

"Is that the best you could do?" Harry quipped.

"I don't know! There's a lot going on here, I couldn't think of a reference on the spot," Cisco defended exuberantly.

"He's John Doe from Se7en?" Caitlin offered with a shrug.

"YES" Cisco said pointing at her excitedly at the same time Harry said, "I don't know what that is."

As Cisco and Harry began their bickering, Jesse turned to Caitlin and whispered, "And he was giving me heck for joking around with my teammates," which earned her a chuckle from Caitlin.

"We should be heading back," Joe spoke, interrupting what was nearly the beginning of a fistfight between the two who were still bickering. "We haven't had much rest since Barry's arrest. But call us if anything comes up."

"I should go too. I'll let you know if we find anything on Ruth," Gypsy said. She gave Cisco a swift kiss goodbye before making her way to the breach room as Joe and Cecile left through the main entrance. Jesse was also about to make her exit but Caitlin put a hand on her arm and gave her a look that asked her to stay.

Barry, Iris, Wally, and Ralph decided to make a food run leaving Harry, Cisco, Caitlin, and Jesse alone in S.T.A.R. labs. The only thing they were waiting for now was for the metas to contact them.

"Come on, Cisco. You can help me work on the signal from the chip Jesse brought over," Caitlin said in a poorly hidden attempt at getting the father and daughter to speak to one another.

"No," Harry said sharply, causing Cisco to jump slightly. "I'll do it. You guys work on tracking Ruth."

"Hey man, she's not here. We have an alert on anyone who breaches from another Earth AND those vibrating at different frequencies. It was up to three when Gypsy came and now it's back down to two because of you two. What else do you want us to do?" Cisco exclaimed, slightly confused by Harry's outburst but a look from Caitlin told him not to bring it up.

"Okay then just wait for the food. I'll handle this," Harry said gruffly as he disappeared in the direction of the breach room to retrieve the chip from its forgotten place on the table.

Jesse wore a neutral expression and made no move to follow her father. Caitlin sighed and, turning to Cisco, softly said, "I'm going to go check on him. Can you keep an eye on her?" Cisco nodded and so she began the slow process of walking all the way to the breach room.

Five minutes later, she entered the breach room to find it empty.

 _Oh I'm so stupid! Of course he went to the workshop…_

When she finally made it to the workshop, Caitlin was out of breath. She knew she was overdoing it but she was too stubborn to relent. She composed herself before walking over to where Harry was tinkering away. Or more accurately, hammering away with unnecessary force on a piece of metal junk.

"Boy, I didn't realize this piece of metal offended you so much," Caitlin said offhandedly. That was always how it was with the two of them. When one of them walked away from the group and was upset, the other would always follow soon afterwards, always starting the conversation by making a lighthearted comment like "You should stay away from the cheese curds, they're addicting," or "Well let's see - dark roast, light roast... What are you having - the self pity roast?"

Harry sighed and slammed the piece of metal on the desk. Caitlin didn't even bat an eye as she sat down next to him, careful not to wince so he wouldn't have an opportunity to change the subject. "What did she say to you?" Harry demanded.

"She just told me how she felt. You'll have to talk to her if you want to know more," Caitlin said firmly but without malice in her voice.

Harry observed her for a moment. He was slightly frustrated that she wouldn't spill but he also admired that. It was good to know he could confide in her and trust her not to go around sharing the information with others. Then again, what did he really expect from her? Caitlin had proved time and time again that she was extraordinarily kind and trustworthy. Even when she was going through hell and back, she would always put her friends and the safety of strangers first before her own pain. He hoped he could someday be there for her like she was for the rest of her friends, including himself.

"What?" Caitlin questioned upon seeing his expression soften.

Harry shook his head, "Nothing."

There was silence as Caitlin waited for Harry to speak. Harry's thoughts returned to Jesse and he thought about their fight. With a sigh he finally spoke, "Jesse… she's my entire world. Now that I'm confident that she's fully trained and capable of being out there, fighting meta-humans, I just don't want her to get hurt any other way. Her team… I know they do their best but they're just not _good_ enough. A-and they're always fooling around which causes them to suffer more losses while the metas are on the loose and I'm just _scared_ that at some point, it'll take its toll on her. That she'll become haunted by what she couldn't achieve - the lives she couldn't save. And I want to make her understand that but every time I try, she doesn't listen."

Caitlin nodded and said, "Yes but Harry, you need to learn to trust her. Jesse is brilliant. She takes on what she can and she _does_ understand that there are certain limitations to what she can achieve. But you have to admit, you getting mad at them for slacking probably didn't help. They are solving problems in their own way using the method that works best for them. Now that doesn't mean their method is better or worse than ours, it just means it's different and you'll just have to accept that. Already, Jesse tells me they're improving. So just try to trust them. I know it'll be hard but maybe you could go over there and see for yourself? Just go over and observe how the team performs without your help or interference and I'm sure it'll put your mind at ease."

Harry considered this for a moment before quietly saying, "If they'll let me… I said some pretty harsh things to all of them - not that I care about any of them except for Jesse."

"Well you'll never know unless you ask," Caitlin countered. Then she added, "And maybe try to avoid...expressing that indifference."

Harry gave her a weak smile, "Thanks, Snow."

"You're welcome," Caitlin nodded. When she realized he wasn't moving, she said, "Well what are you waiting for? Go talk to her!"

"Right now, but I still have to-"

"Don't worry about it. Cisco and I will work on the chip. You just go be with your daughter."

Harry nodded at her and thanked her one more time before heading out of the room. Caitlin stayed in the workshop and sighed. She realized she had forgotten to ask Harry to call Cisco down and she didn't have her phone on her either. Deciding Cisco would come down on his own eventually, Caitlin looked around and found the chip on the desk opposite where she was currently sitting. She made to get up but the sudden movement made her head spin and she realized too late that she had overexerted herself as she collapsed and lost consciousness.


	7. Contemplations

In response to the guest comment, I hope this is more of what you were looking for. Although a kiss might be a long ways off still... sorry about that. It doesn't quite fit with the natural progression of things right now. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Contemplations**

Caitlin awoke and blinked several times before she realized she was back in the medical wing. Suddenly, a face hovered above hers.

"Hi Harry," Caitlin said with a weak smile. She knew what was coming and she hoped the drowsiness wore off so she would be able to defend herself properly.

" _Hi Harry?_ Is that all you have to say for yourself? What were you thinking Snow?! You should have listened to me and stayed in bed but _no_ you had to go be a hero -" Harry was cut off by the entrance of Cisco and Jesse, followed by the rest of the team who had come back from their food run and just finished their dinner.

"CAITLIN! Why did you push yourself? You should have rested!" Cisco said in a hysterical voice. Then both he and Harry continued to fuss over Caitlin who kept trying to insist she was fine but they weren't having any of it.

From the doorway, Iris chimed in, "Thankfully you didn't hurt yourself while falling. You passed out from exhaustion combined with lack of food so we've hooked you up to an IV and you'll be good as new - well except for your injury - in no time! Oh and we've also put an ointment on the wound to help with the pain."

"Thanks Iris," Caitlin said, smiling at her with appreciation.

"But don't think that means we're going to let you out of this bed anytime soon," Harry said bossily.

Caitlin rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, I'm fine! I just needed to eat and next time I need to chase you around S.T.A.R. Labs, I'll ask someone to carry me there!" Caitlin smiled as she said it but the smile quickly faded as she saw Harry's look of guilt at being the reason why she passed out so she added, "It's not your fault Harry. I was being stupid and should have been more careful."

Harry's face softened and he gave Caitlin a gentle smile, which she returned. Jesse stood perplexed as she looked between the two of them. Then, she looked over at the team members as if to ask, are you seeing this? Cisco gave her a lopsided grin, Iris gave her a knowing smile and a slight nod but the remainder of the team remained oblivious to the little exchange.

"Okay chop chop, we've got a meta meeting to get to!" Ralph hollered as he clapped his hands together. While she was knocked out, Wally was texted a location for the meeting which was to take place at 8 p.m. at an apartment near Jitter's. "Who's going to babysit Caitlin?"

"I don't need-"

"YES YOU DO," Harry and Cisco said in unison to cut off Caitlin's protests as the rest of the team stifled their laughter.

Caitlin frowned and crossed her arms over her chest but she knew she wasn't going to win this fight and she didn't want to waste any more time that could be dedicated to finding The Thinker so she decided not to push it. Instead, she asked, "Hey did you guys get anywhere with the chip?"

"Oh yeah! It traced back to - guess who? - DeVoe," Cisco replied.

"So then we thought that if DeVoe was watching our friends on Earth-2, he was probably watching our friends on the same Earth as well so we asked Felicity to check out Team Arrow's hideout and they found hidden cameras all over the place too," Iris added.

"This also increases the chances that Ruth is working with DeVoe. Maybe she is his informant for Earth-19 by keeping close to Gypsy since surveillance cameras wouldn't be too helpful for tracking a Breacher," Cisco finished.

Caitlin nodded along but Ralph was becoming agitated. "Okay, okay, can't you do this later? I mean right now we've got to go to the meeting!" Ralph whined.

"Okay, only those with costumes go," Iris ordered. "So Barry, Wally, Ralph, Jesse - "

"I've actually got to get back," Jesse interrupted.

"Okay yeah, no worries. Right, so the three of you go ahead. I'll be on standby and Harry will stay with Caitlin. If anything goes wrong, get out of there. We'll do our best to help out from here. And another thing, do NOT reveal your identities under any circumstances. I'm looking at you, Barry. Enough people know you are The Flash, and especially now after the trial, we don't need anyone to have leverage over you," Iris spoke sternly.

They nodded and headed out. Jesse gave everyone who remained a hug as she bid her farewell. She gave Caitlin a very peculiar look as she left which Caitlin didn't seem to notice. Caitlin did notice that Harry and Jesse seemed to be on significantly better terms and she was happy for them both. She was also glad her passing out didn't interfere with the father and daughter's much-needed conversation.

With just the three of them left, Iris spoke, "Well I'll be in the cortex. Keep your phones handy in case I need you."

"In case you need _me._ Snow's not going anywhere," Harry said insistently.

"I'm fine," Caitlin said rolling her eyes, "and I can help too."

Harry took one look at her and back at Iris before saying, "Are you sure we can't put the restraints back on?"

"HARRY!" Caitlin exclaimed as Iris walked away laughing and shaking her head.

"I'm serious, Snow. I'm not letting you out of my sight. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? What if you passed out near a sharp object or we didn't find you right away? You have no idea-" Harry cut himself off, realizing he was about to say too much. But Caitlin understood where he was going with that so she gave him a soft smile.

"Thank you for caring so much about me. Really, it means a lot. But you have to understand that I am capable of making my own decisions. Yes, I'll admit, my latest one was stupid but it won't happen again. I'll be careful, so don't worry so much."

Harry didn't even deny it and there was a silence where the two of them just looked at each other. Something had changed and they both felt it. Maybe it was because Caitlin had helped Harry patch things up with Jesse. Harry felt grateful towards Caitlin for the advice and Caitlin had begun to understand Harry more and so they were brought closer. Or maybe it was because Caitlin had been found unconscious on the ground twice within one week and it drove Harry crazy with worry each time which shocked them both. Caitlin was taken aback by receiving such a strong reaction from him and Harry was surprised at his own feelings because he hadn't realized how much he had come to care for Caitlin. They had also been paired up a lot more recently because she was injured so maybe spending time together allowed them to get closer.

Whatever it was, this moment was tense because of it. Harry slowly walked closer to Caitlin, never breaking eye-contact, and Caitlin's breath caught in her throat. Then, in one swift movement, just Harry's face was almost an inch away from Caitlin's, he grabbed a chair from behind him and sat down next to her cot before asking, "Do you want to continue that conversation?"

Caitlin blinked a couple of times before lamely saying, "What?"

"You said my name in your sleep when you were unconscious the first time and you said there was more to it than just reliving your traumas with Amunet," Harry pressed on.

"Ah yes, well I think it was because I was thankful that you were trying to protect me," Caitlin said thoughtfully.

Harry leaned back slightly in disappointment, "Yeah well what are friends for?"

Caitlin looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he was thinking. "Why did you want to know?" _What were you expecting?_

 _What was I expecting?_ Harry quickly masked his feelings and cryptically said, "No reason."

They were quiet again but the moment had passed and now the silence was uncomfortable. Caitlin was trying to figure out what exactly was happening. She hadn't really thought about Harry as anything more than a friend. At first, he was the doppelganger of their mentor-turned-murderer - or murderer disguised as a mentor to be more exact, so it was difficult to trust him. But then the team quickly realized he was nothing like Thawne. In fact, he was prickly and downright rude at times. Still, Caitlin, along with the rest of the team, warmed up to him and even though they had some tough times, they learned to trust him and he began to trust them in turn. But then he left and Caitlin thought that was the end of it; that their friendship wouldn't even have a chance to fully grow because of the distance. Sure he came back to visit and they even saved him from Grodd on Earth-2 but things were different. She became Killer Frost and there were so many things that he missed out on in her life and so much she probably missed out on in his. Yet when he moved back, everything just snapped back into place. It was the team back together, just like old times.

But until this moment, Caitlin hadn't realized how much closer they had become compared to when he first came to their Earth. Cisco was often off with Gypsy so the trio was brought down to the two of them more often. She seemed to end up at Jitter's with Harry someway or another more frequently since he moved back. And now there was this newfound care she discovered he had for her. Sure, he could just be worried about his good friend, but she sensed there was more to it - especially after that question. Now that she had a moment to stop and think about it, she realized she hoped that there was more. She had thought that those dreams and visions she had been having were just some side-effects from the drugs and they probably were but she couldn't shake the warm feelings they brought her.

Harry, on the other hand, was very perturbed by what he had just done. _What the hell was I thinking? Yeah, that's definitely going to stop her from asking more questions I don't have the answers to - not!_ Harry didn't know what was happening here either but he did know he was about five seconds away from kissing Caitlin and that was NOT supposed to happen. But then his save was even worse! He couldn't believe he had asked her that _now_ of all times. He felt like he was going crazy. Sure Caitlin had become very important to him over the years, but only as a friend. Or so he had thought before he saw Cisco and Iris carrying her into S.T.A.R. Labs that day and everything that came after that: her saying his name in her sleep (although that turned out to be nothing), taking care of her, working on defeating DeVoe, and her giving him advice. Not that the last two reasons were new - their work was why they knew each other in the first place and she had always been exceptionally kind - but he discovered that he just enjoyed spending time with her in general. He had had a lot of time to think about the two of them over the last few days and he had yet to come up with a conclusion. It was very nerve-racking for him and now he had gone and done this! Harry didn't know how Caitlin felt about him but after the response she gave him, he could only assume she only thought of him as a friend, which would make sense. There was no reason for her to think of him as more than that. And he was completely wrong for her anyway. He was older, he had a daughter, his bedside manner was terrible - she had said so herself just the other day, and he would never truly be able to understand her because he wasn't a meta.

But along with all the reasons they wouldn't work out, he couldn't help thinking of all the reasons they would. They had similar interests, they enjoyed each other's company, and they had been through so much together. Each of them had saved the other countless times and they both knew what it was like to lose the love of their life. The list went on but Harry forced himself to stop. Harry admitted to himself that he admired this woman and was starting to develop feelings for her but with this realization came the thought that it was hopeless. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable by throwing this at her right now. Not after all she had been through. Losing her husband twice, getting out of a relationship with a psychopath, then there was that lovesick puppy, although he doubted she lost any sleep over him. Not to mention everything with Killer Frost that he still didn't know the extent of. He didn't want to bring it up now, not while she was under his care.

Harry finally broke the silence by saying, "Well Snow, you should get some rest. I'm just going to check with West-Allen before setting up a cot just outside the room. Just text or call out if you need me."

They exchanged brief goodnights before he left the medical wing. Caitlin sighed and got settled in. As she did so, she noticed that there was something in the pocket of her sweatpants. It was a note that read:

 _Caitlin,_

 _Thanks again for your advice earlier. It really meant a lot to me and I know my dad feels the same way. Thank you for talking to him as well. We had a proper conversation while you were unconscious (I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to you by the way. I hope you feel better soon) and, although everything isn't miraculously solved, we made a lot of progress. I'm writing this as the others leave to check out the meta meeting and I'm sorry I couldn't stay to thank you in person but I really need to get back to my Earth to deal with a meta-crisis there. Again, sorry for making this all about me. Be sure to tell me everything (okay maybe not EVERYTHING - I don't need to be scarred for life) when we see each other next._

 _Jesse_

Caitlin just shook her head and smiled. She really didn't think it was that big of a deal but she was glad that she could have been helpful to both her and Harry. Somehow she knew her dreams were going to be carrying a similar theme to the past few days.


	8. Moving Forward

Sorry for the irregular updates. I just want to say that this story may take a weird turn after the next chapter. I'm still having fun writing it though so I hope you will stick with me until the end :)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Flash, or North and South

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Moving forward**

The morning was a quiet one. Harry woke up peacefully and surprisingly without any soreness from spending the night on one of S.T.A.R. Labs' insufferably uncomfortable cots. He thought back to last night's events. After he had left Caitlin, he went to set up the cot. There had been no disturbances during the meta meeting so Iris didn't need to call him over. His mind had been buzzing after his conversation with Caitlin but he cleared his thoughts and decided to get some rest as well. He remembered drifting off for a while and waking up abruptly to Ralph's voice which was louder than it needed to be.

" _GUYS-" Ralph said before being shushed by Iris._

 _Harry stood up groggily and quickly checked in on Caitlin. After confirming that she was still asleep, he made his way over to the cortex._

" _So?" he asked shortly. He was in no mood to mess around, partly because this could be a vital source of information and partly because his sleep had just been rudely interrupted._

 _Wally cut in, sensing Harry's mood and not trusting Ralph to handle it properly, "The gist of it is that every meta at that meeting - there were around fifteen - agreed to help out."_

 _Harry nodded at Wally approvingly as Cisco added, "We've collected a list of each of their code names and abilities. We're thinking of starting to train them tomorrow but we just need to arrange for a location. I'm going to go contact A.R.G.U.S. and see if Lyla can hook us up with anything."_

 _As Cisco went off to work, Barry said, "Oh and there's one other thing. One of the metas who lives on Caitlin's street said they saw a suspicious woman who matched Ruth's description hanging around a lot lately. They haven't seen her since Caitlin was captured but he says he'll keep a lookout in case she comes back."_

 _Iris nodded and then yawned. After Cisco had returned to let them know that Lyla would arrange for a training ground, the team agreed that they wouldn't be able to accomplish any more and called it night._

The more he thought about it, the more frustrated Harry got. He realized that all they really had at the moment was gearing up for an inevitable battle with The Thinker but they still didn't know _where_ he was or what he was planning. He was stumped. He decided to get up and check on Caitlin. He entered the room to find her reading a book. Upon noticing Harry, Caitlin set the book aside.

"Good morning, Harry," Caitlin said pleasantly. "I hope the cot wasn't too uncomfortable. Sorry that you had to sleep there because of me."

"No it wasn't too bad," Harry said truthfully.

"So what happened at the meta meeting?" Caitlin inquired.

Harry briefly filled her in before expressing his frustration. "I thought DeVoe would have been angry that Marlize was caught but clearly he doesn't care since he hasn't come forward yet. The only real lead we have is if we could somehow manage to find Ruth. But we're already keeping track of the entrances of people with different vibrations and apart from Gypsy, Jesse, and me, we haven't had anyone who fits the description wander around this Earth lately."

"Unless…" Caitlin began and simultaneously a lightbulb went off in Harry's head.

"Of course!" Harry said, suddenly becoming fully animated despite being slightly sluggish a moment earlier.

"I mean we've always assumed she was from Earth-19 just because Gypsy was the one who introduced us to her but now we know she has been working with DeVoe and has clearly wandering around my street for weeks! Although I do wonder how she managed to breach back and forth between Earth-19 and go unnoticed by Gypsy…"

"Well for now, we know that Ruth may still be on our Earth. I'll get Ramon and we'll get started on trying to locate her," Harry said, still full of energy. Then he realized that he had completely neglected to ask Caitlin about herself. "Sorry Snow, I completely forgot. How's your side? Do you need anything? I can bring you breakfast."

Caitlin shook her head with a laugh, "That's okay. I got up and got myself some breakfast. Now before you yell at me, let me tell you that my side is extraordinarily better today. That ointment combined with the rest really did wonders." Then she added, teasingly, "You could even stick your hand right over my injury!"

Harry gave her a withering look at the last comment but his voice was stern when he spoke next, "Snow, you really need to be careful. You promised us yesterday that you would take it easy."

"Getting up to get breakfast and a book isn't pushing too hard. I really will try to be more careful," Caitlin said earnestly.

"Yeah well just call me next time you need something," Harry said.

"Actually… I do need some help putting on the ointment if you don't mind," Caitlin said sheepishly. She had been determined not to think about what happened the night before because she had been up all morning over-analyzing what had happened and now she wasn't even sure she had read the situation correctly. Now, she could feel that her side was becoming irritated again so she really did need the ointment but she didn't know how Harry was going to react so she quickly added, "Or if you don't feel comfortable, I can wait until someone else comes in."

"No of course not, I'll get it. Just let me phone Ramon and he can get started on locating Ruth," Harry said. Although his voice was composed, he was screaming on the inside. He realized it was going to be difficult to remain professional if he continued to be in charge of taking care of Caitlin and yet somehow he couldn't let someone else take over.

Harry went outside to make the phone call. Cisco said he'd be right over and he meant it because about 30 seconds after hanging up the phone, he was standing next to Harry, having just breached in.

"Oh you meant like _right_ right now…" Harry said.

Cisco eyed Harry strangely, sensing something was up and asked, "Are you alright, man? You seem a little jumpy."

"What, no why - why would I be jumpy - I'm not jumpy," Harry said, acting like he didn't just give himself away.

"Riiiight," Cisco said before moving on. "So I was thinking I could start from the CCTV footage from Caitlin's street and see if I can trace Ruth's movements over the past few weeks. I'll call Joe to see if we can get CCPD's help on this."

"Great, good, that'll good work, Ramon," Harry said distractedly as he glanced in the direction of the medical wing where Caitlin was waiting for him.

As Cisco went into the hall to make the phone call, he called out behind him, "You can go back to taking care of Caitlin, I've got this."

Harry made his way back to the medical wing. When he walked into the room, he wore an unreadable expression. Caitlin was suddenly nervous. She was beginning to regret asking Harry for the ointment; it was going to be too awkward. She should have just called Iris or sucked it up until someone who she didn't have confusing feelings about had come along.

"You know what? I think I'm feeling better. I don't really need the medicine," Caitlin nearly squeaked. She internally cursed her voice for giving her lie away.

Harry raised an eyebrow, then he made his way over to her and lightly poked her injury.

Caitlin winced and objected, "Hey! That was completely unnecessary!"

"Well stop lying to me then," Harry said as he went to wash his hands. He brought the ointment over and paused for a moment. Then, in one quick movement, he lifted her shirt just enough so the injury was visible and proceeded to use a Q-tip to apply the ointment. Caitlin hissed when hit a particularly sensitive spot so he stopped and apologized.

"It's okay, just maybe go a little slower," Caitlin said.

Harry mentally berated himself. He had been rushing through so he could get it over with but this resulted in him hurting her. It proved as a wake-up call and Harry was able to ignore his feelings and focus on the job at hand - taking care of Caitlin. He then proceeded to slowly finish the job before carefully replacing her shirt to its original state.

"Thanks, Harry," Caitlin said with a half smile.

"Anytime," Harry simply said as he cleaned up. "Need anything else?"

"No I'm good."

"Okay then, I'll keep my phone on me so just text if you need anything. I'm going to go see if Ramon needs any help," Harry said.

"Okay," Caitlin said with false enthusiasm. As she watched him leave, she inwardly sighed. Caitlin was now fully convinced that she had imagined yesterday's almost kiss. Harry had been completely professional, even a little cold, while taking care of her. Caitlin guessed she shouldn't be that upset - after all he hadn't done anything to indicate he had feelings for her. She had just thought she had seen the signs but perhaps she was wrong. Yet, she couldn't help feeling a little crushed. Sighing again, Caitlin returned her attention to her book.

On the other hand, Harry was having similar thoughts. Caitlin hadn't once brought up yesterday so she probably didn't think anything of it. He thought the best thing to do was keep his distance. When Iris came back, he would ask her to take care of Caitlin by using the excuse that he needed to help Cisco catch Ruth. Or so he thought.

"Ramon, what can I do to help?" Harry asked gruffly.

"Well nothing really," Cisco said. "We've got CCPD reviewing the footage from Caitlin's street as well as any other CCTV footage they could find just by following the path Ruth took from that footage. I'm not actually doing a whole lot myself. Joe said he'd call when they had established a timeline of her movements. Oh and the meta training isn't for another two hours."

"That's just great!" Harry said a little too loudly.

Cisco raised his eyebrow, "Okay there's something definitely going on with you."

"It's nothing," Harry said shortly.

"Is this about Jesse coming over yesterday? I thought you guys had talked it out."

Harry decided to just roll with it since explaining the truth would be more complicated so he said, "Yeah we're good now. I'm just a little worried about how it's going to go when I go back to Earth-2 to visit her. I just don't want to mess it up." It was the truth but he hadn't really been thinking about it because he wasn't planning to go until after they had stopped The Thinker.

Cisco nodded his understanding, "It'll be fine, Harry. You're a great dad and I know Jesse really loves you. Just be try not to insult her friends too much and you'll be golden." Cisco gave Harry a goofy smile and Harry just nodded.

It had been two hours since Harry had left. Caitlin had already finished her book and was sitting in bed, bored out of her mind. She finally decided to see if she could find another interesting book. She stealthily snuck out of the medical wing and made her way to the bookshelf where she had picked out her previous book. Caitlin hadn't realized that they had so many interesting novels in S.T.A.R. Labs but then she supposed H.R. had gathered a collection of his favourites to keep himself busy when he lived there.

After scanning the shelf for a few minutes, Caitlin finally settled on North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. She had heard that the BBC mini-series was good so she was curious to see what the book was like.

"Well well well, someone neglected to listen to the doctor's orders," came a voice from behind her.

Caitlin gasped and turned around. Simultaneously, the intruder had taken a swing at her in an attempt to knock her out but Caitlin was too fast for her and ducked out of the way. Instinctively, Caitlin threw her book at the woman and hit her square in the face.

"Yeah not again thanks," Caitlin muttered. Her adrenaline was pumping and she was looking around wildly for a weapon of any kind. All she could see was a fire extinguisher which she grabbed and sprayed the intruder with. The unknown woman was temporarily blinded and as she recovered, Caitlin ran and hid in a closet in a nearby room. She quickly sent out a meta alert. Moments later, she heard the arrival of a speedster.

"Who are you?" came Barry's muffled voice. Caitlin couldn't make out the answer. As her heart rate decreased back to normal, Caitlin felt that her injury had been irritated but not as badly as it had felt before she had passed out yesterday. Although she was relieved at this, she still didn't want to push herself. She decided to wait until the coast was clear.

Caitlin couldn't really hear much of what was going on outside but it seemed like there was less discussion and more action going on. After a while, Caitlin decided she should contact Harry to let him know she was alright in case he was looking for her.

Caitlin: _Hey Harry. I don't know if you heard but I just sent out a meta alert from S.T.A.R. Labs because there was an intruder. I just wanted to let you know I'm okay and that I'm hiding out in a closet. Barry is out there taking care of it. Although I feel like a coward, I don't want to turn to Frost in case she tries to take over while I'm still weak._

Harry: _Thank god, Snow. Just stay in there, I'll come get you._

Caitlin: _No don't come! It's not safe._

Harry: _Tell me what happened._

Caitlin: _Um well I kind of got up to get a book…_

 _But hey, I defended myself pretty well. I hit her in the face with a book and then sprayed her with a fire extinguisher before I ran into the closet_ _(ง ื▿ ื)ว_

Harry: _Not funny Snow…_

Suddenly, Caitlin heard someone approaching. She heard a lot of slamming. Then a thought occurred to her - what if someone had tapped into her phone conversation and was now searching for her while Barry was distracted with the woman intruder. Caitlin quickly looked around the closet for a weapon but there was nothing. Slightly panicking, Caitlin decided the best thing to do was to wait and jump out at her attacker to catch them by surprise.

She heard someone directly outside the closet. They opened the door and Caitlin jumped straight at them without checking to see who it was. The person grabbed Caitlin by the arms as he stumbled backwards but he didn't fall.

"Snow…" he said just before he pulled Caitlin into a hug. She was shocked but when she realized who it was, she hugged him back.

"I'm sorry, Harry…" Caitlin said, her voice muffled as her face was pressed against his chest.

* * *

I just wanted to point out that I put a kaomoji in Caitlin's text conversation because I couldn't input an emoji. I was going for more of a chagrinned emotion but it looks a bit more cutesy that I would have liked. Anyway, that's just a trivial point. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	9. Truth

If anyone knows how to insert a table/link into a fanfiction on this website, please let me know. I tried a bunch of different things and nothing worked so I eventually just went with what you see in this chapter which isn't very pretty to look at I'm afraid. At any rate, this chapter onwards is where things get a bit random so my apologies (I had fun writing it though!). Also, there are a lot of references which will be explained in depth in the end notes so there is that.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Flash

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Truth**

Harry and Caitlin had been cut short by Barry's arrival.

"Are you alright, Caitlin?" Barry asked sincerely.

Caitlin nodded and asked, "It was Ruth wasn't it? I'm almost positive she's the same person who gave me the phone number for Bella at Jitter's."

Barry nodded, "The good news is that I have her locked up in one of the particle accelerator cells but the bad news is that she refuses to talk."

Harry, who had been quiet up until now growled dangerously, "Let me try." Without waiting for an answer, Harry walked briskly towards the cells.

When he was out of sight, Barry shared his side of the story with Caitlin. Apparently everyone had been busy - Joe and his team at CCPD were still working on looking for Ruth while Barry, Wally, Ralph, Cisco, and Iris (who had also worn a disguise because she still wasn't fully trusting) had gone to train the new metas. They had just met up at the site A.R.G.U.S. had prepared for them when Caitlin had sent the alert.

For some reason the signal seemed to be coming from the cortex (which is probably why Iris bought a new phone) so Barry had actually seen Harry first. According to Barry, Harry had been horrified to learn the alert was sent, obviously realizing Caitlin was in trouble. Then, Barry had ran off and found Ruth relatively quickly, still somewhat out of it from the fire extinguisher attack. From there, Ruth had put up quite a fight. She didn't seem to possess any meta abilities that Barry could see, but she seemed to have weapons tailored to slowing him down. Something that she sprayed him with, made him slightly disoriented and messed with his speed so it took him a bit longer to take her down but he managed to do so in the end.

After picking up her book from where it lay on the floor of the other room, Barry carried Caitlin back to the medical bay and asked her if she needed anything else. She shook her head and Barry exited the room to notify the others that he would be staying at S.T.A.R. Labs just to be safe.

Caitlin set her book aside and lay back. She had had enough excitement for one day and she decided she should probably try to rest before Harry came back because he was definitely going to want to have a talk with her.

Meanwhile, after making a quick stop off at the workshop, Harry stood in front of the entrance to the particle accelerator. He inserted something into one of the tubes on the side before entering. He stood in front of Ruth's cell, absolutely furious on the inside but seemingly calm on the outside.

"So, Ruth. You're going to tell me what you were doing here and why you wanted to attack Caitlin," Harry said evenly.

"Good to see you again, Dr. Wells. And can we just skip this part? Both you and I know I'm not going to say a thing," Ruth smirked. "It must have been hard to watch your girlfriend suffer though. And you let me near her without looking into my background. Your team must be really stupid if they can be this trusting after having _your_ evil doppelganger manipulate them for a year and then that whole thing with Zoom. Although as I recall, Caitlin Snow was kidnapped that time too wasn't she…? Wow she must really be useless if she allowed herself to be kidnapped twice."

Harry refused to be baited even though his anger had been increasing steadily since he first found out that this intruder had tried to hurt Caitlin. "She's not my girlfriend," he simply said.

"HA! Why would you bother lying about that? It's painfully obvious that you two are head-over-heels for each other. Or is there someone standing in the way? Maybe that Cisco Ramon? Or the goofy Ralph Dibny. If it is Ralph Dibny, I wouldn't mind taking him off your hands… You know I know my fair share about another person butting in on a relationship," Ruth said bitterly.

"Right except I don't think Dibny has a particular fondness for murderers," said Harry.

"Oh but your girlfriend does doesn't she?"

"You're a bit slow, aren't you?" Harry responded. "I already told you we're not together. Now, why did you kidnap Dr. Snow the first time?"

"It wasn't me," Ruth said innocently. "It was my teammates."

"Fine, why did your _teammates_ kidnap Dr. Snow the first time?" Harry said, growing impatient.

"For fun. You know, this town can get awfully boring and we just like to spice things up now and again. Keep you on your toes and such."

"And was poisoning her just for fun too?" Harry spat out.

"Yes," Ruth answered simply.

"What's your connection to The Thinker?" Harry asked next.

"Wouldn't you love to know?" Ruth smirked.

"Answer the question."

"Or what?"

"Or I'm going to turn the temperature up in there bit by bit until you tell me what I want to know or suffocate," he said. "It's your choice."

Ruth feigned shock, "My goodness, I thought you were supposed to be the _good_ guys. You can't really be threatening another human being!"

Harry reached over and turned a dial.

"Ahhh that's so kind of you. It was getting a little chilly in here," Ruth said.

"Why did you come here today?" Harry asked.

"I got bored again and thought it would be fun to visit an old friend," Ruth said dreamily.

"See now, I don't think you're being entirely honest with me," Harry said and he turned the dial up some more. "But then again, I haven't been entirely forthcoming with you either. You see, I know you're a meta-human," he said as he tapped his next-gen watch.

"Congratulations, you're a genius! Too bad you didn't think to use that when I came the first time," Ruth taunted.

Ignoring the interruption, Harry texted Barry to listen in on their conversation before stepping closer to the cell and saying, "When you were fighting The Flash, I saw you not only hit him with a substance to disorient him and slow him down, but you also shot a gun at yourself a few times. When I took a look at what that gun was, it turned out to be a cold gun. Now I don't know exactly what it is your powers allow you to do, but I'm guessing you draw power from the cold."

Ruth's demeanour changed at being found out as she snapped, "What do you know?"

Satisfied that he had thrown her off balance, Harry continued, "So clearly you want Killer Frost for fuel, but now the only question is, did you come here of your own free will or are you just following DeVoe's orders?"

"He would never order me around! He loves me!" Ruth barked. Then she paled as let slip another piece of information that she hadn't meant to.

"Ah so that's what you meant by your little relationship comment," Harry observed. "Well I'm sure you heard that Marlize is in custody so you must be happy."

Ruth scoffed, "As if it mattered either way. They fought over me the night before, and he left her before coming to me." Then Ruth looked at Harry in shock. "What did you do to me?"

"Don't worry about it," Harry said dismissively. "So let's start again. Why did you kidnap Dr. Snow the first time?"

"Clifford wanted to trick her into healing her wounds using Killer Frost and making a full turn."

"Why such an elaborate plan? I'm sure you could have just done that by stabbing her or something to that effect." Harry inwardly cringed as he pictured it but he needed the information.

"Clifford thought it would be more useful and amusing if he had her take out a few of you in the process. He also wanted to weaken the team during Barry's trial so you wouldn't have any time to work on a way to get him out. Drugging her and causing the visions allowed us to throw the blame onto Amunet for a while, before she tried to betray us and had to be disposed of." Ruth had stopped struggling to lie at this point, realizing that it was a waste of energy.

"Did DeVoe kill The Weeper as well?" Harry asked, completely disgusted by this point. The others were right; the sick bastard was doing this for his own amusement.

"Yes," Ruth said.

"So why did you come here tonight?"

"Clifford was furious that Marlize had sold him out. He wanted me to come here and spy on the team in person now that all our hidden cameras have been discovered to see if Marlize was working with you."

"But then you saw Caitlin and couldn't resist trying to capture her to fuel your powers," Harry concluded.

"Yes," came Ruth's automatic response. Her face looked like she had just eaten something bitter.

"Okay, where is DeVoe?"

"I don't know," Ruth said blankly.

"So how do you normally meet him?"

"He comes to my place. I never contact him."

"Sounds like he just comes to you when he needs something. Are you sure he's in love with you?"

"He said he would make me his queen," Ruth spat out venomously.

"What is his plan, anyway?" Harry asked next.

There was a pause before Ruth said, "Like I'd tell you."

"Right, well then I think we're done here," Harry said. He returned the dial to its original position and proceeded to exit the particle accelerator.

"You'll never stop us," Ruth yelled behind him.

"Yeah, yeah," Harry said under his breath as he made to rejoin the others.

In the cortex, Harry was met with Barry and Caitlin who were seated at the main computers. "Well I don't know what _you_ said to her, but I couldn't get her to shut up," Harry said.

"How did you do that?!" Barry exclaimed.

"You used the truth serum didn't you-" said Caitlin.

"I used the truth serum," Harry said with a nod. "But that was the last of it. I would need to go back to my Earth to get some more herbs and then it'll probably take me another week to brew another batch."

"I don't think we'll need any more at the moment. The thing we need the most right now is to find DeVoe and Ruth doesn't have that information anyway. It's only a matter of time before he sends someone else who we could try to put a tracker on, or he comes himself," Barry said. "That means we seriously need to come up with a plan and fast."

Harry and Caitlin exchanged looks before Harry said, "We have one but we can't tell you."

Before Barry could object, Caitlin pleaded, "Please just trust us. Iris is the only other person who knows about this so please don't mention this to any of the others."

Barry nodded his understanding, "But then it would be more practical to bring everyone here. Iris isn't going to like that though…"

"No, the two of us and Iris need to steer clear of DeVoe. And we know that he's interested in bus metas so Ralph should probably stay here with the three of us while the rest of you lure him elsewhere," Caitlin responded.

The three of them spent the next hour devising a plan. Then, Barry briefed the rest of the team who was out training as well as Joe in case they needed backup from CCPD. After they had finished all of the preparations, including putting up extra surveillance cameras and silent alarms to ensure they wouldn't miss the next intruder, Barry brought Iris and Ralph, along with two of the metas-in-training, Masuma and Vicky, back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

" _Absolutely not!" Iris had fumed when it had been suggested that they bring along one of the other metas for extra protection at S.T.A.R. Labs._

" _Oh come on, Iris! It would be better to be safer and besides, we can take Masuma," Ralph reasoned._

" _Just because she's an old friend of yours doesn't mean anything. You said so yourself - you haven't seen her in over a decade. You don't know what she's like now. We've seen time and time again how gaining meta-human abilities has corrupted people."_

" _Not Masuma," Ralph said firmly._

After further discussion, Iris finally agreed. Iris had been particularly wary of Masuma because she hadn't communicated much with the rest of the group. Ralph ensured her that this was just the way she was. Masuma's ability was predominately casting a dark bubble around an enemy that would temporarily blind them and disorient them. Depending on the amount of light available, this dark bubble could last anywhere from two minutes to half an hour. They decided to bring Vicky because her invisibility would help them catch the intruder by surprise.

While Barry was at the training ground, Cisco forwarded Harry the following document so those assigned to be at S.T.A.R. Labs would have an easier time coming up with battle strategies:

Name - Code Name - Abilities/Additional notes

Masuma - **Enigma** \- darkness bubbles that temporarily blind/disorient enemy

Vicky - **Ghost** \- invisibility

Carla - **Yin** \- photosynthesis (Monique's twin)

Monique - **Yang** \- photosynthesis (Carla's twin)

Sam - **Tidal Wave** \- can move faster than the speed of sound by becoming water and using it as transportation

Raine - **Maidabot** \- controls technology

Milos - **Freezeframe** \- inflicts paralysis

Young-ah - **Chi** \- shoots energy beams

Shannel - **Sonic** \- speedster

Zahara - **Phendula** \- immunity to toxic fumes and radiation

Tiên - **Mockingbird** \- can mimic the abilities of the last person she touches

Olivia - **Tremor** \- can create earthquakes

Akari - **Red** \- controls fire

Kli - **Thunder** \- controls weather

Jason - **Healer** \- healing abilities *This guy didn't show up because he was apparently sick. We can try to get ahold of him if it comes to that*

Cisco also made a comment saying that the metas had chosen their own code names and that he would work on them. He seemed to be really worked up about Akari's choice in particular.

As soon as Barry arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs, Harry said, "You better take a look at this." On the screen in the cortex, a news broadcast showed the aftermath of a breakout at Iron Heights. All of the bus metas who were locked up there - Kilg%re, Hazard, Black Bison, Fallout, and Dwarfstar - had escaped.

"Looks like it's about to start," Iris said to Barry.

"Yeah, I better get back," he replied. She kissed him before he sped off back to the other half of the team.

Ralph introduced Masuma and Vicky to Caitlin and Harry. Then, Iris took Vicky on a tour of S.T.A.R. Labs so she could do a proper perimeter without tripping any of the alarms while Ralph was busy catching up with Masuma.

"Nervous?" Caitlin asked Harry. Even when Barry had left, they had only spoken to each other when absolutely necessary. There was too much going on to address the events from that morning and they both knew it was a pivotal conversation that shouldn't be rushed.

"Not particularly," Harry said. "You should get some rest. We might need your help later so you'll need your energy."

Caitlin nodded and got up from the chair she was seated in. She gave Harry a small smile and gave his arm a quick squeeze. She could see through his calm facade so she said, "It's going to work," before turning to make her way towards the medical wing.

Harry nodded in return and watched her leave. He sighed and went over to familiarize himself with the document Cisco sent over. "I hope so," he muttered under his breath.

* * *

Raine (Maidabot) is literally just taken from the name Raine Maida, who is the lead singer of the band Our Lady Peace (which I had mentioned in a previous chapter as well. Again, I own nothing!). I don't own the character Sonic either - I just needed a name for another speedster. Zahara is named after the singer and Phendula is one of her songs. I would highly recommend checking out OLP and Zahara; they have vastly different genres of music from each other but they are both great!


	10. And so it begins

Thanks to Mustard Lady and roni16 for their kind reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash or Made in Abyss (spoilers for the latter so read at your own discretion)

* * *

 **Chapter 10: And so it begins**

Everyone was anxious but they had to act normal. A logical thing for the team to be doing would be trying to track the escaped bus-metas so that's what they did. Harry and Iris worked together to try and locate the bus-metas and occasionally pretend to contact Barry, Wally, or Cisco as if they were out in the city searching for clues. Meanwhile, Masuma stayed by Caitlin and Vicky patrolled the area.

It was another hour until something finally happened. Vicky had just completed another round of patrol outside the building when she saw something move. She immediately alerted the rest of the group by tripping one of the silent alarms. Vicky pushed over a nearby box containing old sandbags that were too worn out to be used for training in an attempt to get some dirt on the intruder. She was successful so she followed quickly behind her invisible counterpart, careful not to make any noise as she did so.

Back in the cortex, Harry and Iris pulled up the surveillance cameras to look in on the area from where the silent alarm had been tripped. They didn't see anything so they checked the other areas as well. Then, another alarm went off in the hallway leading to the cortex. They quickly shut down the camera and resumed acting like they were busy at work.

"Vibe, there was just a meta-human alert just outside of the city. Can you breach over everyone there?" Iris asked, speaking into the microphone. She then read aloud the coordinates to the A.R.G.U.S. training ground in hopes that the intruder would take that information back to DeVoe.

On the other end, Cisco replied, "On it," as he silently signaled to the rest of the team plus the new metas to get ready.

Suddenly, a stranger entered the room. Iris stood on guard as Harry grabbed his gun and Ralph blocked the stranger before he got too far, "Who are you?"

"I'm Jason. I go by Healer," responded the man.

Masuma and Caitlin, who was lagging behind, made their way to the cortex. "Wait! We called him here," Masuma said.

"Here? How could you call him here, this is a secret hideout!" Iris nearly shouted.

"I told her to call him," Caitlin said.

"Why?" Iris asked, exasperated.

"Probably because she has a serious injury," Jason responded. Iris narrowed her eyes at him.

"Hey, weren't you sick?" Ralph asked Jason suspiciously.

"I didn't feel like going all the way out of the city," Jason shrugged causing Ralph to scowl.

"More importantly, why didn't the alarm go off?" Harry asked as he made his way back to the computer. "We have a problem." Without offering an explanation, Harry ran towards the particle accelerator. Ralph and Masuma followed after him, while Caitlin, Jason and Iris went to look at the computer screen.

"Oh my god, the silent alarm went off in the particle accelerator area five minutes ago! Ruth's gone and Ghost seems to be battling the invisible intruder," Iris gasped. "But where's Ruth?"

"Quick, heal me," Caitlin said to Jason as she lifted up her shirt to reveal her injury.

"I actually am a little sick so this might not completely work," Jason warned. He held his hand over Caitlin's injured side. A green light spread over her skin and seemingly got sucked into her injury. The light turned orange, then faded out as Caitlin's injury slowly healed. In the end, there were scars where the needles had entered but the pain was gone. "Ah, see the scars shouldn't be there," Jason said, disappointed.

"Thank you," Caitlin said quickly before turning to Frost. When she did, the scars healed completely and Jason was left awestruck.

"Yeah I did not see that one coming," Jason muttered.

"What's going on? Who's he?" Frost asked Iris.

"There are two intruders in the building. One is invisible and the other is a woman who has some sort of meta-abilities but we don't know what exactly she can do," Iris answered.

"Great," Frost said sarcastically. "Okay everyone stay quiet and don't move."

Suddenly, there was a loud crash coming from further inside the building.

"What was that?" Jason whispered.

"What did I _just_ say?" Frost whispered angrily.

There was a clatter as one of the tools fell off the desk on the far side of the cortex. Frost tried to shoot ice at the intruder but her attacks only succeeded in destroying the cortex. Harry, Ralph, Masuma, and Vicky followed soon afterwards.

"It's too late, he's gone," Iris said. "The reason the alarm didn't go off when Healer entered was because we didn't get a chance to reset it after the invisible intruder came the first time. I fixed that while you guys were downstairs and it just went off a minute ago signalling that he left."

"There were four of you, how could you possibly have let him get away?" Frost quipped.

"Uh I don't know if you noticed, but he was INVISIBLE," Ralph snapped back.

Harry looked at Ralph oddly, "Or you know, it's because we wanted to let him get away."

"Oh right, that too," Ralph said, acting like he knew that was the plan all along.

Frost turned to Iris, "I thought you said there were two intruders."

Vicky chimed in, "His powers seem to work the same way mine do - whoever he touches turns invisible too."

"Although it's not ideal that we lost Ruth too, we ran out of the serum so it doesn't really matter because we wouldn't have been able to get any more information out of her anyway," Iris said.

"Well, looks like Caitie's going to make a comeback. Works for me too because this whole plotting part is such a bore," Frost said as she strutted around casually. Then she stopped in front of Harry and looked at him oddly before shaking her head slightly and continuing, "Call me when things get interesting."

With that, Frost turned back into Caitlin. It was Vicky's turn to be surprised, "Oh I didn't realize you were the same person!" she exclaimed. Caitlin merely nodded in response.

Iris said, "And that's the way it should be. Let's do our best to keep everyone's identities secret from now on. Alright, I'm going to let the rest of the team know that DeVoe has probably been informed by now. Caitlin, how are you feeling?"

"Much better, thanks," she said and gave Jason a grateful look.

"Okay so you, Harry, and I will be in charge of helping out the others. Ghost, you're on perimeter. Elongated Man, you and Masuma are with us. Healer, you should technically be on the field but we have no way to get you there so for now just go get some rest in the medical wing. We'll call you if we need you," Iris ordered.

"Okay see I don't really know what's going on-" Jason began before being cut off.

"Just go," Masuma urged him while shoving him him away lightly. Jason obeyed and Vicky left to go on perimeter.

Iris called the others to inform them of the situation. It seemed that she had perfect timing because a few minutes later, Cisco's voice could be heard through the microphone as he said, "They're here."

The standby team jumped to life. Harry said, "List off anyone you recognize."

Cisco replied, "Kilg%re, Hazard, Black Bison, Fallout, Dwarfstar, and DeVoe. There are also five other people - I'm guessing the other bus metas - that I don't recognize."

"No just four. One of them is Ruth," Barry said.

"We still don't know what her powers are so that's five unknown powers," Harry said.

"One of them is probably the invisible guy," Caitlin pointed out.

"We might as well activate it now," Iris said to the other two without letting the others hear her. Caitlin nodded and grabbed the controller which activated the mini fly-like cameras that they had secretly sent with Barry when he left to rejoin the team.

"Whoa that's so cool!" Ralph said as he peered over Iris' shoulder to take a look at the live camera footage of the base. Iris glared at him to shut him up.

"What?" Barry asked.

"Nothing, Elongated Man and Enigma were just talking," Caitlin covered up quickly. "Flash, we need you to draw out DeVoe."

"DeVoe," Barry called out. "You're outnumbered. You might as well quit now."

DeVoe, who had flew in on his chair, landed about five feet away from Barry and chuckled. "Mr. Allen, it is _you_ who should quit now. But I know that is not part of your personality. There is almost a 0% chance that you will so let's just skip the talk and move forward, shall we?"

"Fine by me," Barry said before charging at DeVoe. Anticipating his moves, DeVoe used one of his mechanical arms to smack Barry several feet away. Then, DeVoe waved his hand and the bus metas began their attacks.

Because they were somewhat anticipating this, the new metas who were working with Team Flash targeted specific bus metas. Yin, Yang, and Phendula targeted Fallout because their abilities allowed them to deal with radiation, Sonic targeted Dwarfstar because she would be fast enough to avoid getting shrunk, Maidabot targeted Kilg%re to try and balance out his technology manipulation, Freezeframe targeted Hazard so she wouldn't be able to inflict bad luck, and Chi and Tremor fought Black Bison because they would be able to keep her on her toes and effectively thwart off any statue that did come to life in case they weren't able to prevent it. Thunder went for the invisible man because he figured he could blast the man with snow or something to keep him visible. This left Tidal Wave, Mirror, Red, Kid Flash, and Vibe to take on the other four metas with unknown powers. Tidal Wave and Mockingbird teamed up on one of the metas who turned out to have vertigo abilities. Red targeted a slightly older man whose abilities were not yet apparent while Kid Flash took on a meta who could create mini explosives and Vibe took on a meta who could fly.

"Flash are you okay?" Iris exclaimed over the microphone. When Barry grunted in response, she looked at Harry and Caitlin she said, "We need to act fast. I'll cover Flash, Caitlin you get Vibe, and Harry you get Kid Flash."

After isolating the microphones so that they could only be heard by their respective person, the three of them prepared to give their commands. When she realized it would be too hard to do both, Iris reluctantly gave Masuma control of the bees so that they could have a better visual on the situation.

"Okay Flash, listen to me. I need you to trust me okay? Please just follow every command I give you and don't question it. This is part of the plan but I can't say any more," Iris said firmly. Caitlin and Harry gave similar directions to Cisco and Wally, respectively.

"Flash, look at The Thinker," Iris ordered as Harry ordered Wally to look at Ruth and Caitlin ordered Cisco to open a breach that led to Ruth.

"Ah so you think you've found my weakness," The Thinker said mockingly to Flash. "Well I should warn you not to underestimate her."

The next movements seemed to happen in slow motion. As The Thinker raised his mechanical arm to attack Barry once more, Iris, Harry, and Caitlin gave their next orders all at the same time.

"Create a lightning bolt," Iris and Harry told Barry and Wally, respectively.

"Blast DeVoe," Caitlin shouted at Cisco.

DeVoe swiped his arm towards where he anticipated to move but Barry and Wally moved to run around him in preparation of their lightning bolts. Before DeVoe could comprehend what was happening, Cisco blasted him, which knocked him backwards slightly.

"Now!" Iris and Harry screamed at the same time. Barry and Wally sent lightning bolts at a disorientated DeVoe who screamed in pain.

"NO!" screamed Ruth who rushed towards The Thinker. "YOU IDIOTS! YOU'VE KILLED HIM!"

"Don't worry, the lightning bolts weren't strong enough to be lethal," Barry said.

"There are still other bus metas on the loose," Harry reminded Wally who took off to help the rest of the team. Cisco and Barry stayed to deal with Ruth and DeVoe.

"No you don't understand," wailed Ruth. "His body has been deteriorating and he wasn't able to find a cure. Then that stupid bitch Marlize refused to help her own husband. She said it was too risky and that he should stop with his plan-" Realizing who she was talking to, Ruth cut herself off. Then she turned to Barry, fully enraged. "YOU," she screamed as she charged at Barry.

"Run away and buy some time," Iris said. Barry obeyed and waited for her next command. "Um well that's pretty much all we had planned. You can try whatever it was that you did back when you first captured her?" Iris suggested.

"Wait, we still need to know her power," Caitlin said to Iris.

"Get Mockingbird to The Flash," Harry ordered Wally who was in the middle of battling the vertigo with Mockingbird and Tidal Wave.

"I'm a little busy here," Wally managed to say. Even with the three of them working together, the vertigo bus meta still had the upper hand.

To Cisco, Caitlin said, "Can you check to see if DeVoe is actually dead?"

Cisco breached to DeVoe while Ruth was distracted with Barry. "His pulse is faint but still there. I'll cuff him and contact A.R.G.U.S. for help."

Suddenly Barry cried out in pain. While Barry was trying to figure out a way to get Mockingbird away from the bus meta without being disoriented himself, Ruth had managed to hit him square in the chest, sending him flying backwards. It was the same gun she had used earlier so Barry's speed was affected and he was disoriented.

"You'll pay for this, Flash!" Ruth snarled as she geared up to blast Barry with a different gun, one that he suspected was lethal.

Suddenly there was a rumble that caused Ruth to pause long enough for her to be overtaken by a speedster who tackled her to the ground.

"Thought you could use a bit of help," Tremor said to Barry as she helped him on his feet. Barry looked over to see Sonic holding down a furious Ruth.

"Watch out!" Iris screamed as she saw Dwarfstar take aim at The Flash and Tremor. He fired straight at the both of them so The Flash pushed Tremor away as he jumped back himself and the blast narrowly missed the both of them. "Focus!" Iris exclaimed.

"Right, sorry, still a little out of it," Barry said.

"Wha-How? We just finished cuffing him!" Tremor exclaimed as she sent another earthquake attack in Dwarfstar's direction, knocking him unconscious.

"Black Bison seemed to have escaped too," Sonic noted as she watched Chi battling her alone. "Kilg%re must have messed with the cuffs."

"Get off me," Ruth growled as Sonic continued to hold her down. Suddenly, Sonic was pushed off of Ruth with a great force. Then Ruth disappeared and Sonic was left on the ground looking shocked.

"Damn it! The invisible meta took Ruth!" Barry informed Iris.

Iris quickly attempted to see if she could see any signs of the two on the surveillance cameras but it was to no avail. "Okay don't worry about them; we'll catch them later. Focus on helping the rest of the team."

But when the three of them turned back to the battle, they saw that things were wrapping up. There were bodies scattered all over the place, and the metas on their side were delivering the final blows before cuffing the remaining bus metas. From what Barry could gather, it looked like they had won. Exhausted but relieved, Barry made his way over to the rest of the group to help with the damage.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Iris, Harry, Caitlin, Masuma, and Ralph all breathed a sigh of relief. The craziness was over for now and they had all but two bus metas accounted for. That was definitely a huge win for them and they could almost relax completely. There was still the matter of dealing with the aftermath but the hard part was over.

A sleepy Jason stretched and yawned as he made his way into the cortex. "What did I miss?" he asked, earning a small chuckle from Caitlin which irked Harry slightly but he said nothing. Harry realized his difficult conversation with Caitlin was getting closer but he decided to push that thought away and cross that bridge when he got to it.

* * *

In case you haven't seen Made in Abyss, the plan to have people over the headsets give orders to the people actually there was taken straight from that show - I don't claim any credit for that either.


	11. Communication

Sorry for the late update - I had surgery last week and have been resting -.- Not exactly how I thought I'd be spending my last few weeks of summer but hey, at least I was able to catch up on some T.V. Thank you, Mustard Lady, for your review - you're definitely on the right track with your thoughts!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Flash

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Communication**

Shortly after Jason had entered the cortex, Iris had asked Wally to bring Jason to the field to heal anyone who desperately needed it. Jason was very wary of travelling with a speedster having travelled with Shannel a few times and having thrown up after each time. Wally agreed to call them a cab. After a long and excruciating cab ride out to the field during which the cab driver asked Wally a million questions about being Kid Flash, they finally arrived.

Wally noticed they were missing a few of the new metas so when he made his way to Cisco and Barry he asked, "Where are Freezeframe, Phendula, Chi, Red, Thunder, Yin and Yang?"

"They said they weren't interested in joining our team anymore, which is fair. They had like a few hours to train before being thrown in the deep end," Cisco explained. "Joe is going to get some police protection set up around their houses in case Ruth and the invisible meta decide to pay them a visit."

Barry gestured for Jason to follow him, "You must be Healer. I'm The Flash."

"Oh really?" Jason replied sarcastically.

Barry merely glanced at him, too tired to provide a comeback. Instead he went straight to business. "So unfortunately, while Maidabot and Kilg%re were battling for control over the technology around them, they took control of a weapon that broke under the strain of their power and electrocuted both of them… They're both dead."

Barry grew silent as he saw Jason's wide-eyed expression. Jason opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally saying, "Raine was my friend."

"I'm sorry man," Barry said quietly.

After a few more minutes in silence, Jason cleared his throat and said, "So is there anyone I should attend to?"

"Well no one is in mortal danger but Tidal Wave is a bit out of sorts. He used his attack where he became water and created water spheres to contain the mini explosives sent out by one of the bus metas before rushing at the meta at the speed of sound and knocking him out. It was actually pretty epic… but now he's a bit discombobulated because he wasn't able to put himself back together properly…"

As they approached Sam, Jason could see what Barry meant. Sam's eyes ran down the side of his face and his mouth was at the edge of his mouth. His body was mostly intact except for one arm which was attached to his stomach as opposed to his shoulder.

"You know, I kind of like this," Sam said waving his hand from his stomach area. Jason shook his head before waving his hand and returning Sam to normal. "Ah well it was fun while it lasted," Sam said before walking off to join the others who were collecting the bus metas for transportation.

"If that's it, I'm heading home," Jason said to Barry.

"Thank you for all your help," Barry said as he shook Jason's hand.

"What are you planning to do with Raine?" Jason asked.

"We'll notify the police and they will take care of it," Barry said. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Yeah well what do you care? You just used us to help clean up your mess and now you're throwing us away because you don't need us anymore. This is exactly why I didn't come in the first place," Jason snarled.

"Hey that's not true at all. Everyone who was here agreed to be here of their own free will. We didn't expect it to happen this soon and that's true but thanks to everyone, The Thinker has been stopped. Everyone here today literally _saved_ the city. And we're not throwing anyone away. We're asking anyone who wants to to join our team. We can help train everyone to use their powers more effectively and help keep the city a safer place, but only if that's what they want. We're not forcing anyone to do anything and we're not calling you only if we need something from you. I am sorry for what happened to your friend but he was fighting for what he believed in. We're all out here risking our lives to keep our home safe and no one life is valued over another."

"Whatever," Jason muttered as he trudged away.

Barry sighed but he knew he wouldn't be able to do anything else at the moment so he rejoined the others who were waiting for A.R.G.U.S. to show up, seeing as the battle did take place on their property.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Vicky was still on patrol, although they weren't anticipating an attack this soon after the battle. Iris was working on locating Ruth and the invisible meta, who they decided to name Whisper. Meanwhile, Ralph, Masuma, Harry, and Caitlin were preparing the place for extra guests. They figured it would be easier to keep everyone safer if they stayed together until Ruth and Whisper were captured, especially since the new additions to the group were still in training. Ralph and Masuma set up extra cots and clothes while Harry and Caitlin made a food run.

"What are you thinking?" Caitlin asked Harry as they walked to get food.

"Nothing, why?" Harry asked. He was clearly tense but tried to play dumb.

"I meant what restaurant should we go to?" Caitlin asked.

"Oh, well, what about that Chinese place we all like?" Harry suggested.

But Caitlin wasn't going to drop it now. She knew they hadn't spoken properly since the almost kiss after which was the intrusion where she was nearly kidnapped again (not to mention that hug). Then the battle just now during which people had actually died. There was a lot for him to be tense about but whether he would be willing to share it with her or not, Caitlin wasn't sure.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she finally asked.

He really didn't want to get into this now. There was so much he wanted to talk to her about but Harry was exhausted by the events of late and even though it was pretty much over, he still felt strangely unsettled. It felt almost as though they were missing something. So instead of getting into what he was really thinking, Harry said, "I'm going to visit Jesse tomorrow."

Caitlin stopped dead in her tracks and asked lamely, "What?"

Harry stopped and looked at her, "Yeah, you know now that it's over, I think I better go and try to make amends. Besides, I think I need a bit of a break away from all of this."

Caitlin knew she shouldn't be so shocked. This was expected, and it was what was best for both Harry and Jesse. However all rational thought escaped her at the moment. She was hurt that he felt that he needed to travel back to Earth-2 for a break. Didn't he think this Earth was his home? Weren't his friends here enough for him? And if he really didn't view this Earth as his home, then there was the possibility that he would like it so much back on Earth-2 that he wouldn't come back. After all, they had called him here to help when the whole DeVoe problem began and now that DeVoe was defeated, his job here was done. Yes, he had been kicked off the team on his Earth but they seemed to be ironing out the problems and it wasn't totally inconceivable that he would rejoin them.

As her thoughts and emotions threatened to bring Frost out, Caitlin started walking again. In response to Harry's words, she said forced a smile and said, "Yes, you should. Now come on, the others are probably back by now and we haven't even ordered the food yet!"

Harry could see right through the false cheer so just before Caitlin opened the door to the restaurant, he called out, "Snow."

As she turned towards him, he reached for her hands and held them for a moment before saying, "I know there is a lot for us to discuss. But… I can't get into it yet." He looked down before meeting her eyes again. "I want you to know, I _will_ be back and we will have time to talk about it then."

The look in his eyes was so sincere and Caitlin couldn't help but smile widely at both his expression and his words. A wave of relief washed over her as all of Caitlin's doubts vanished with the guarantee that he would be back. "Thanks for saying that, Harry," she said quietly.

Harry smiled back at Caitlin as let go of her hands to open the door for her. They finally seemed to be back on the same page again.

After Lyla had taken the metas back to some secret A.R.G.U.S. jail, Barry, Wally, Cisco, Sam, Shannel, Tiên, and Olivia got settled in at S.T.A.R. Labs. Considering that they had just put their lives on the line to save the city, Team Flash thought it would be safe to reveal their identities to the new metas. They all changed out of their costumes and introduced themselves once Harry and Caitlin returned with everyone's food.

As they ate, Harry voiced a thought that had been pestering him since the end of the battle, "We should question Marlize about DeVoe's plan. Now that he's dead, she shouldn't have a problem revealing his plot."

"Really bothers you not knowing, hey Harry?" Cisco teased.

"Well doesn't it bother you, Cisco?" Iris asked. "We've been working on this problem for nearly a year, and DeVoe planned this years before that. I for one would like to know what he went through all that trouble for."

"Man, he was crazy. He probably just wanted to torment us or show off how smart he was," Cisco said.

"No, Harry's right. I'd like some closure on this so we should see if Joe can arrange a meeting with Marlize tomorrow," Barry said.

After that, the group had mini-conversations amongst themselves. Vicky had eaten quickly so she could go back on patrol. Shannel finished up at the same time and decided to join Vicky to keep her company. Ralph and Masuma were still inseparable as they talked away about old times as well as exchanging funny stories that had happened since they last met. Tiên, Olivia, Wally, Barry, and Iris, laughed as Sam experimented with his newfound ability to rearrange and grow body parts. Currently, he had five arms and was attempting to juggle empty takeout containers. Caitlin was laughing at Cisco and Harry, who were in a heated argument about Harry's ability to give proper instructions and were proving to be quite amusing. Occasionally, Caitlin would fan the flame by backing up Cisco just to tease Harry.

After dinner, while everyone else got ready for bed, Harry packed his things up in his room.

"Are you _going_ somewhere?" Cisco said from the doorway.

"I'm visiting my daughter," Harry said shortly.

"Without telling anyone?" Cisco asked, his arms crossed in irritation.

"Snow knows," Harry answered. "Besides, it's only a short visit to make sure her team is actually making progress."

"And if they aren't?" Cisco asked hesitantly.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked shooting a glare in Cisco's direction.

"You know what I mean. Will you rejoin their team?" Cisco clarified.

There was a silence as Harry contemplated this. "I don't know," he finally said as he finished packing the last of his things.

"Man, what are you doing?" Cisco said, shaking his head. "Look, I get it, you need to spend time with your daughter too. But Caitlin deserves better than that."

Harry stopped dead in his tracks, "What do you mean by that?"

"Hey, I know it's none of my business, but _clearly_ there is something going on there. You can't just abandon her."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Harry said quickly. "I would never do that to her."

But he cut himself off too late and Cisco jumped up and said, "HA! I knew it! You _do_ love her!"

"What? Come on, Ramon, I just said I wouldn't hurt her because she's a good friend - "

"Oh c'mon man, the cat's out of the bag," Cisco said while rolling his eyes. Then, turning serious again, "But I mean it about abandoning her. Like I said before, Caitlin is like my sister. If you ever hurt her, I will hunt you down and hurt you."

Harry was slightly unsettled that Cisco knew about his feelings for Caitlin but he smiled slightly at the threat, and said, "Relax, Ramon. It's me who feels that way about her but it's likely not reciprocated."

Cisco stopped short. "You mean you HAVEN'T TOLD HER YET?!" he screamed.

"SHHH! No of course not," Harry said.

"What are you waiting for? You're not getting any younger!" Cisco exclaimed.

"She was kidnapped, her old boss was murdered, and she was just attacked for god's sake! How would it be a good idea to say 'Hey Snow, just thought you should know, I have feelings for you liKE A LOVESICK TEENAGER! Please say you love me back too!' NO!" Harry said as he did a little mock dance for some reason.

"Okay promise me you'll never do that again," Cisco said warily. Then he continued, "Okay fair point, I guess giving her some time to think about it would be good. Okay now, shoo, go. The faster you go, the faster you'll be back and we can hear the happy news!"

Harry just rolled his eyes as he exited his room and made his way to the breach room. When he got there, he noticed Caitlin sitting on the steps up to the platform. When she saw him, she smiled and stood up.

"I just wanted to say bye," Caitlin said sheepishly, "and to give you these."

She passed him an envelope addressed to Jesse and a tin box. "I was wondering if you could pass the envelope along to Jesse. She left me a note before she left and I just wanted to thank her. The box is a peace offering from you to the rest of their team."

Harry raised his eyebrows and asked, "What is it?"

"Homemade cookies," Caitlin said simply.

"I'm not going to-" Harry began before Caitlin cut him off.

"Ah! No arguing," Caitlin said, pushing him along towards the platform. Then she firmly added, "And don't you even _think_ of eating them yourself."

Harry pretended to look offended but as he stood there, about to leave, he was suddenly hit with a wave of sadness. He was slightly reluctant to go, even though he knew he needed to do this to reconnect with Jesse. His friends here on this Earth really cared for him and he didn't really ever stop to think about it except occasionally in the small pockets of peace that they had between crazy meta attacks. At the moment, he was especially thankful for the woman standing in front of him. Despite the fact that he was taking off when they finally had an opportunity to talk about them, she was understanding and supportive about it. Caitlin was the reason his relationship with his daughter was on its way to healing in the first place.

With a small smile and a look that conveyed his sincerity, Harry said, "See you soon, Caitlin."

With that, Harry breached to Earth-2 and left Caitlin alone on the steps. It sounded cheesy, but she missed him already. She felt empty and planned on wallowing in her sadness for the rest of the night. However, her friends had other plans.

"Hey Caitlin," Iris said from the entrance of the breach room. "I thought we could have a sleepover-type thing with the rest of the girls. Or whoever else wants to join, I mean no judgement." Cisco had told Iris about Harry leaving and they both thought Caitlin could use some cheering up. Besides, she deserved to relax a little after being through the mill the last few days.

Caitlin smiled, thankful for the distraction. "Yeah, that would be great!"

"Great, let's get set up. Poor Ralph and Masuma went through all that work for nothing…"

As it turned out, everyone loved the idea so they set up their mattresses in a line in the most spacious room. Even though they were beyond exhausted only moments before, the team seemed to get their second wind and everyone was jumping up to help. Olivia and Shannel decorated the walls with a single set of Christmas lights while the others had the idea of setting up a tent-like cover over the mattresses using blankets.

Once they were finished, everyone got settled into bed but no one went to sleep right away. Instead, everyone chatted away lightheartedly for what seemed like hours. When they finally drifted off, they all slept peacefully. Everyone, especially Team Flash, was thankful that the bigger threat was eradicated. If only they knew…


	12. Revelations

In response to the guest comment: To me, age doesn't matter as long as the people involved are both consenting adults. I've argued this before so I'm just going to take the same thing I said and rewrite it here: I think that Harry and Caitlin just click together on many levels. For one, they both understand how it feels to lose a loved one. Honestly spending time with someone you love, no matter how short of a time that may actually be, is better than not spending time with them at all.

In addition to that, I also believe that we've been given quite a few scenes where Harry and Caitlin are hanging out outside of S.T.A.R. Labs, particularly in the last couple of seasons, which leads me to believe that they've already become closer and that they seem to confide in one another (for example, a scene that doesn't exist in my narrative but one that I love: At the end of Enter Flashtime when they discuss Harry's healing relationship with his daughter and Caitlin's relationship with Frost. The line that particularly stands out to me is, after Caitlin denies something being wrong, Harry saying "Come on. I know you well enough to know when something's on your mind."

I've listed other reasons and motivations throughout this story as well (for example when Harry's first discovering he has feelings for her - the reasons he lists off are the reasons that come from my viewpoint). Sorry to have turned this into somewhat of an analysis (which, again, I have no place to do since I'm a math major and I don't know the first thing about English or character relationship analysis) but hopefully you see this and hopefully it showed you a bit about where some of us who ship Snowells are coming from. Thank you so much for reading despite not agreeing with the ship in the first place!

Thanks to Mustard Lady for yet another kind review! There is going to be a bit of a rough ending to the chapter but bear with me.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Revelations**

Caitlin was the first to wake the next morning. She stared up at the blanket ceiling and sighed. This was the first time since Harry left that she was alone with her thoughts. A feeling of melancholy filled her as she shifted to lie on her side. She saw Iris soundly asleep beside her and she smiled. They had all been through a lot and she was thankful that her friends finally found some peace. Barry and Iris could finally take it easy and enjoy some time together. That is, until the next threat presented itself. But for the time being, things were looking good.

Looking past Iris and the others, Caitlin stared at the Christmas lights hanging on the wall. They were strangely calming and almost lulled her back to sleep when she heard the faint sound of a phone ringing in the distance. Creeping out of the makeshift tent, Caitlin put on some socks and snuck towards the phone in question.

"Hello?" Caitlin said in a hoarse voice.

"Caitlin? It's Joe. I was just getting back to Cisco's text about meeting with Marlize. The only time we could get was in an hour," came Joe's voice on the other end.

"Okay perfect, I'll let the others know," she said.

After she hung up, she quietly went around to wake up Barry and Cisco. They quickly got ready and made their way over to meet Joe for breakfast. Then, the three of them went over to Iron Heights, where Marlize was currently being held.

Upon their arrival, they headed into the visitor's room. Marlize was brought in shortly afterwards, accompanied by her lawyer. She was dressed in a blue prison uniform, her expression unreadable.

"Barry Allen," she said without emotion, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We captured your husband yesterday. It's over," Barry stated.

Marlize scoffed, "So you've come to gloat?"

"We've come for answers," Cisco replied.

"And what would I get in return for those answers?" Marlize asked. She kept an even voice but the three of them sensed her desperation. She was in jail, her husband was captured, and her professional reputation was tarnished so her situation was quite dire at this point.

"I can get your sentence reduced to a year, seeing as you didn't actually kill anyone," Joe said honestly.

"Well that beats rotting away in here for the next five years… What do you want to know?"

"Honestly, we just want to know what Clifford's plan was," Barry said.

"Let me get this straight. You came all the way down here, offered to cut my jail-time by four years, even though you're convinced that Clifford has been stopped, all just to satisfy your curiosity?"

"Well… yeah," Barry said lamely.

"Hold on, why did you say we're convinced that he's stopped? We've captured him and he's being held in a facility where he won't be able to use his meta-abilities ever again," Joe said.

"Ah but have you stopped Ruth?" Marlize asked calmly.

"Ruth? What does she have to do with it?" Cisco asked.

"She was the contingency plan," Marlize said. "Initially, Clifford had intended on absorbing all of the bus-metas to gain their powers and become the most powerful man on the planet in both intelligence and physical power. He planned on using these powers to better the world by implementing his ideas without running into obstacles along his way."

"You mean dictating the world without interference from anyone else," Barry cut in.

"Say what you will about Clifford but his intentions started out good. If along the way he had become corrupted, then I would blame that on Ruth. She was power hungry and wanted to rule the world together with my husband. Although she was persistent, I'm not saying she's completely to blame. My husband was a fool to fall for her," Marlize said bitterly.

"Can we get back to the part where Ruth was the contingency plan?" Joe prompted.

"Ah yes. You see, Clifford was going to absorb each bus meta one by one so as not to overexert his current host body. He was saving Ruth for last because she has quite a unique power that allows her to take in additional souls. Ruth can extract Clifford's soul from whichever host-body he is currently in and bring it into her body, thus keeping him alive even if he were to approach death. This is also a handy ability to have when someone is locked up in a facility that prevents that person from using their abilities because Ruth is the one using her powers, not the person who is locked up," Marlize explained.

"We have to alert Lyla," Barry said to Cisco who was already on it.

"I'd wager that it's too late," Marlize said. When the look on Cisco's face confirmed her guess, she went on to say, "Your best bet now is to keep Caitlin Snow safe."

"Because she feeds off of ice powers," Barry said, finally understanding why DeVoe was so anxious to get ahold of Killer Frost's powers.

"No, not just ice powers in general, but specifically Killer Frost's ice powers. There is some sort of genetic compatibility between Ruth and Caitlin that only allows Ruth to become stronger if she is blasted by Killer Frost's attacks."

"Then why let her go when you kidnapped her?" Joe pressed as Cisco alerted those at S.T.A.R. Labs to be on high alert.

"That was Clifford and Ruth's overconfidence that led to a hole in the plan," Marlize said. "Clifford intended to have you take Caitlin back to S.T.A.R. Labs as a distraction to the team leading up to the trial as well as having Caitlin be overtaken by Killer Frost. We had assumed that Caitlin would drink the poisoned soup and, in saving herself by using Frost to heal, she would give all her control to Killer Frost, who would then run wild, hopefully killing or seriously injuring a few of you on her way out. When that happened, Killer Frost was supposed to come back to Amunet for some work, where we would then either try to win her over or simply capture her if she refused to cooperate. It was all simply to add a dramatic flare to his plan. However, things did not work that way at all and there were so many factors that we had not accounted for. When things went wrong, Clifford blamed me. I told him he was overexerting himself and the reasons for his miscalculations were likely due to putting too much strain on his new host-body but he wouldn't listen. He demanded that I develop some sort of technology to make him stronger - like I could just pull something out of thin air and present him with it in such a short time period. When I put my foot down, he ended up storming out. He likely went to Ruth, I'd imagine…"

"If you knew all this, why didn't you say anything the day of the trial," Cisco asked carefully, leaving out the part where they had injected her with a truth-telling serum.

"I don't know," Marlize answered honestly. "For a while there I was unable to stop talking. It was like I was obligated to answer only truthfully for what seemed like ages and then suddenly, poof, I was back in control. By that time they were already releasing Barry Allen and taking me in for questioning so I didn't really have the chance. But I've told you everything I know now. Can you promise a reduced sentence?"

"One more thing," Joe said, "where do you think we will be able to find Ruth now?"

"Like I said, keep Caitlin Snow close. You won't have to wait long before they come for her," Marlize said seriously.

"Okay, thank you for your cooperation and I can guarantee your reduced sentence," Joe promised as the three of them got up to leave.

"If I were you, I'd hurry it up a bit," Marlize said casually as the three made their way to exit the area. "Clifford is likely blinded by anger at the moment and he will be even more dangerous than before now that he is serious."

Harry should have been focusing on the task at hand but his mind kept wandering. So far he had only been on Earth-2 for about 12 hours and already he was thinking about his friends back home.

 _Home_

Yes, Harry had known that he no longer belonged on this Earth for a while now. From the moment he got there, he felt out of place. But he no longer felt anger or betrayal at the notion. As his daughter showed him all of the changes that had been made since he was last there, Harry only felt proud of his daughter and happy for her in place of the frustration that he had felt when he worked on their team.

The others, which included Jet the mechanic/tech guy, another hacker named Amanda, a trained marine named Erin, and the new addition, Kyle, who was a jack of all trades, weren't as bad as he remembered either. They were thrilled at his peace offering gift of cookies and, though they were initially wary when Jesse told them he would be visiting, they all took to sharing their progress with Harry as well. Harry had to admit that they had all improved vastly. Although he wouldn't admit it, he was slightly impressed by them all. Feeling a bit amiable towards them, Harry even agreed to show Jet how to trace a cross-dimensional signal.

"Dad, what's the status on the meta?" came Jesse's voice over the sound system, interrupting his thoughts.

"Be patient. We're waiting for him to come out of the bank so he doesn't harm any hostages," Harry said, silently thanking god that his distraction didn't lead to the endangerment of his daughter.

"Okay now!" shouted Chester.

Harry stepped back and watched as the team expertly handled the situation smoothly. The meta had attempted to run back into the bank and use a hostage as blackmail. The meta had the ability to temporarily nullify other metas' abilities so instead of putting Jesse in a position where she could be vulnerable, Amanda hacked into the police radio and set up a sneak attack as Chester talked Jesse through what the say to manipulate the meta into falling into their trap. Meanwhile, Erin and Kyle, who were on the field with Jesse, cleared the bank by leading the other hostages out the back door. Within minutes, Jesse had managed to lead the meta near a window, which was smashed by the police to create a distraction. Then, Kyle sprung at the meta which caused him to loosen his grip on the hostage. Jesse sped the victim away to safety as Kyle fought him off. Just as Kyle was about to be overtaken, the police stepped in and took the meta down.

Jesse made her way back to S.T.A.R. Labs with the others but the second they returned, there was another meta-human alert. The team hopped right to it as Harry retreated further backwards and watched them work, seeing that he wasn't needed. He was now completely satisfied with the team's capability and was currently working on what he would say to Jesse once things had calmed down.

Once Cisco had breached them back to S.T.A.R. Labs, everyone, except for Vicky and Shannel who were patrolling, began brainstorming. Cisco contacted Gypsy who breached over to help. They couldn't get ahold of the team on Earth-2 and took that to mean that they were dealing with their own crisis at the moment.

"I vote we breach her to another Earth," Iris said.

"Yeah because that worked so well when we were trying to protect you from Savitar," Cisco said sarcastically. Then realizing that that was going to far, added, "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"No, it's okay. You're right," Iris agreed, her eyes momentarily darkening as she remembered H.R.'s sacrifice.

Ideas kept being suggested and refuted. They realized they were running out of time but no one could come up with a way to keep Caitlin safe and defeat Ruth/DeVoe.

Caitlin, who had been quietly observing and hearing out each suggestion, finally said, "Use me as bait."

"Absolutely not," Barry and Cisco said simultaneously.

"It's the only way," she insisted. "We have no technology to stop DeVoe, Ruth is an insanely fast and resourceful fighter, and they have an invisible meta on their side too so we will literally not know what hit us."

"Yeah see those all sound like extremely BAD things that make me think we should do the exact _opposite_ of what you are suggesting," Cisco said with a pointed look.

"No, think about it. Marlize probably doesn't know that we've teamed up with other metas. There's two of them and 10 metas on our side - excluding me because I probably shouldn't be using my powers to fuel Ruth's. We can definitely take her down so why are we running?"

"Caitlin is right," Masuma agreed. "Let's finish this so we can all stop hiding away."

The rest of the new metas, Wally, and Ralph agreed with Masuma, leaving Barry, Cisco, Joe, and Iris unconvinced.

"Look, impatience isn't going to get us anywhere. All it's going to do is get someone killed," Joe urged.

"But it's not impatience," Caitlin insisted. "What's our alternative? Wait for them to come to us? Do we just hide away in this building until that moment comes? And what if they don't come right away but instead recruit more metas to take us out? What if they _do_ come right away but have set up traps between when they were spying on us and Ruth's infiltration that we are oblivious to? We know nothing. All we know at the moment is that they want me and are probably crazy enough to come out into the open to get me. They also don't necessarily know that we've met with Marlize and know all about DeVoe's fusion with Ruth because for all they know, we just think Ruth attempted to free DeVoe and failed."

"I still don't feel good about this…" Cisco said but the others seemed to reluctantly agree with Caitlin.

"Look, all I'm saying is that we have a chance to set up a controlled run-in with DeVoe and I think we should take it," Caitlin said, looking to convince Cisco.

Cisco sighed and relented before they all set out to figure out their game plan. As the non-metas strategized, the veteran metas spent some time training the new metas a bit more. While everyone was busy, Cisco slipped away undetected to breach to Earth-2. The first person he ran into on that Earth was the one he wanted to talk to.

"We've got a problem," Cisco said to Harry, who had just walked into the breach room to see who was coming through.

"Nice to see you too," Harry said sarcastically.

Ignoring his comment, Cisco launched into an explanation of their recent discoveries. Once he finished, he said, "And I get her reasons, but I still don't feel comfortable with Caitlin offering herself up as bait."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Harry said gruffly. "Come on, we're going back."

After informing Jesse of the situation, Harry and Cisco got back to Earth-1 just in time to see that everyone was ready to go.

"Hey Harr-" Caitlin began before being cut off.

"You are not doing this," Harry said firmly.

Caitlin crossed her arms and said, "And I'm just going to do what you tell me to?"

"Yes," Harry said shortly. He could also see Iris wince in his peripheral vision while Caitlin's face hardened with defiance as he realized that he had said the wrong thing.

"Come on, let's go," Caitlin said to the rest of the metas.

"Snow I-" Harry said before Caitlin cut him off.

"You know what, Harry? I don't have time for this," Caitlin said before walking out.

Cisco looked at Harry briefly before joining Caitlin, Masuma, Vicky, Sam, Shannel, Tiên, Olivia, Barry, Ralph, and Wally. Joe had gone back to the precinct so Harry was left alone with Iris to instruct the others on what to do.

Harry let out a long sigh and scratched his head.

"I know it's probably going to be hard to focus, but we need your help, Harry," Iris said to him.

"I don't agree with this plan at all. What were you guys thinking?" Harry demanded.

"We were wary at first too but this is the most logical choice. Trust us," Iris said. "Now, I need to fill you in on the plan quickly so you can help out."

After her explanation, Harry tried his best to remain calm. From a logical standpoint, yes, they should be able to easily take down Ruth/DeVoe and Whisper with eleven of them on the field plus the two behind the microphones. But Harry was on extra high alert now that Caitlin was being used as bait. It wasn't just that he cared for her safety because at the end of the day, this was something they did on a daily basis. His friends and family were all in the business of putting their lives on the line every single day so he was used to the risk. But this was different for two reasons. One, they had been battling DeVoe for so long and this was a critical moment that could make it or break it for them. If they didn't stop him, he could go on to recruit more metas or even worse, he could successfully kidnap Caitlin and use her powers to become powerful himself.

Then there was reason number two. This was Caitlin. Even though he would take a bullet for Barry or Cisco, Caitlin was quickly becoming such an important part of his life. The only other time he would lose all sense of logic when it came to someone was his daughter and it terrified him that Caitlin had such a hold on him but at the same time, he wanted to see where this was going. He wanted the chance to let her into his life and let her flip it upside down. He loved that she was a kind and caring person but that she would also stand up for what she believed in. He loved the smile on her face when he told her he would be back and he hated that he ruined it by being an ass to her just now.

"Let me go with them," Harry said suddenly.

"What? No, that's not part of the plan," Iris said.

"You hadn't factored me into the original plan anyway. Let me go there and help in case something goes wrong," Harry said.

"There are 11 of them! What are you possibly going to be able to accomplish that they can't?" Iris countered.

"Who knows but it's better than me being here and just telling them what they already know," Harry said, already setting out to retrieve his gun.

Iris just shook her head. She knew this was driving him crazy but she honestly didn't know if it was better for him to be out there or to just stay still so she let him go rogue. She figured one of the others could hold him back if he tried to do anything drastic.

"Let's get this show on the road," Iris called through the microphone as everyone assumed their positions and signaled that they were ready to go. "Good luck, everyone."


	13. On the run

Thanks for your review, Mustard Lady!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Flash or 4am by OLP

 **Chapter 13: On the run**

Caitlin took a cab to her apartment, seeing as her vehicle was still parked there. Although it appeared to the cab driver as though she was only taking one passenger, Vicky tagged along with Caitlin as backup. The others walked (or ran in the case of the three speedsters), took the bus or took a cab to locations surrounding her apartment so as not to draw suspicion.

Once she got out of the vehicle, Caitlin tried to remain calm as she walked up to her apartment, seemingly alone. She knew she was surrounded by her friends but it didn't help her nerves as she returned to the place where she was drugged and kidnapped five days ago.

Caitlin unlocked the door and swung it open to allow Vicky enough room to get by. Then she walked around to do a quick check to make sure everything was in order. It was a bit stuffy in the apartment for Caitlin's liking so she opened up the window to her bedroom. She resisted the urge to scour the place for hidden cameras or an intruder and instead went to her fridge to get something to eat. Since it hadn't been too long, the worst she was faced with was some wilted vegetables and some questionable looking cheese that had been there longer than she would care to admit. As she was still on high alert, she didn't think she could get started on a meal so she grabbed a drink from her fridge and went for her chips, only to discover they were gone. Her blood ran cold until she remembered that Ralph and Wally had checked out her apartment since the last time she'd been there. She didn't put it past Ralph to have helped himself to her food. Calming down slightly, she walked over to her T.V. and channel surfed for a while.

She must have dozed off because the next thing she knew, it was 4 p.m. She heard a soft knock at her door. Dread began to fill her up again but she reassured herself that she was safe. There was no second knock and instead, her door was busted open. Caitlin quickly slid off her couch and crouched down low.

"CAITLIN!" called a frantic voice.

"Harry! What are you doing? You're blowing the whole operation!" exclaimed Iris over everyone's earpieces.

"It's a trap," Harry replied before running over to where Caitlin was crouched near the ground. He grabbed her hand and said, "Where's Vicky? We need to hide."

On cue, Vicky reached out and grabbed Caitlin's other hand, effectively making all three of them invisible except to each other.

Suddenly they heard a chuckle coming from the direction of the T.V.

"I must say, I'm impressed," came a voice. Although it was unmistakably Ruth's voice, the words were spoken in a very DeVoe-like manner.

"Quickly, get into Caitlin's apartment!" Iris ordered the rest of the team.

However, as the team closed in, they were met with a problem. They were unable to step within about 3 feet of the apartment building.

"There's like some sort of force field blocking us," Cisco said. "I can't seem to breach into her place."

"We can't phase through the forcefield either," Barry said after he, Shannel, and Wally, tried a few times.

"Okay. Harry, Caitlin, and Ghost, I have no visual on the room and I can't hear what the intruders are saying either so, for the time being, you guys are on your own. We'll do our best to figure out how to get through the forcefield," Iris said.

Meanwhile, Harry, Caitlin, and Vicky tried to be as quiet as they could as they moved towards Caitlin's bedroom. They didn't want to be completely obvious by going for the door so they were creeping towards the window of her bedroom.

"Well that was short-lived," DeVoe taunted. "I thought this was going to be more of a challenge. Do you really think quietly skulking around is going to make this a challenge for me?"

Then Harry clued in. He quickly let go of Caitlin's hand and jumped towards the table. As he was unable to see any of the other people in the room, he settled with talking at the T.V.

"Try getting a song stuck in your head or think of a pink elephant so he can't read your mind," Harry called out.

"Oh how very noble of you," DeVoe said. "Sacrificing yourself. But it won't change anything. I will capture Caitlin Snow and continue with my plan, unperturbed. Still, I am curious. How did you know we were here?"

Harry, who wanted to keep DeVoe talking so that the others would have a general idea of where he was and steer clear, replied, "It was simple really. Once the others stopped me from heading into the apartment, I went back to S.T.A.R. Labs to pick up a body heat detector so we could see how many people were inside at all times. When I checked to see who was in Caitlin's apartment, there were four bodies and that's when I came in. Now it's your turn to answer. Why did you wait?"

"We didn't. It was simply a coincidence that you arrived shortly after we did. We planned a sneak attack but didn't account for the other invisible meta."

"For the smartest man on the planet, you really do screw up a lot," Harry said.

There was a moment of silence and Harry sensed he had struck a nerve. Ruth had said earlier that DeVoe's decrease in intelligence was due to the body he was inhabiting at the time but now that he was using Ruth's body, this shouldn't have been an issue. Therefore another issue must have arisen.

Seemingly calm, DeVoe changed the subject by saying, "That's a nice song. "If I don't make it, know that I've loved you all along." How fitting that this song would replace your earlier thoughts of Caitlin Snow."

 _Crap_

Harry momentarily struggled to regain his composure before remembering that he had to keep DeVoe talking. He decided the best thing to do was to deny it and allow DeVoe to taunt him further so that hopefully he could buy enough time for Vicky and Caitlin to escape, or for the others to find a way through the forcefield.

"I don't know what you're talking about. It's just some stupid song Ramon listens to that is annoyingly catchy," he replied.

"Ah but I've got you now. Had you argued that you were simply concerned for a friend, I may have thought I had made a mistake. But that would be silly anyway, I don't make mistakes."

"And yet you didn't think we would anticipate your next movement."

"A mere oversight."

"I think that's a bit more than an oversight considering you don't have her right now."

"That's enough!"

Harry suddenly felt a hand around his throat. Upon making contact with Ruth, he was able to see her, Whisper, and, to his surprise, an unconscious Jason.

Iris heard Harry choking and said, "Harry! Hang on, we're still trying to figure out a way in!"

"T….got Healer," Harry managed to choke out. "Jason...Healer."

Ruth's mouth twisted into a sadistic smile, "Yes, that's right. This body had suffered some injuries from the hands of Mr. Allen but I quickly remedied that once I gained control of it. All it took was a little… persuasion on my part and the _Healer_ was happy to do his job."

Suddenly, there was a thud as Ruth was hit with a chair. In the split second the chair and the wielder connected with the invisible crowd, Harry saw that it was Tiên who had delivered the blow. Tiên quickly grabbed ahold of Harry and the two quickly backed away towards the couch.

"What's going on?" Iris asked.

"I'm in!" Sam suddenly yelled. He had spent the past several minutes transforming into water, sinking into the ground, and reforming inside the apartment building.

"Okay good," Iris said. "Get to the room as soon as possible and create a distraction."

Sam, who was already through Caitlin's busted door stopped short. He had no way of knowing who was still in the room or where anyone was so he decided the best method was to grow several arms and flail them around.

"Towards the T.V. you moron!" Tiên yelled. She and Harry were still by the couch and the she figured Ruth wouldn't have gotten far with her injury and an unconscious body.

Instantaneously, Sam transformed into water and rushed towards the T.V. at the speed of sound. As he did so, Tiên and Harry ran out the door and into the lobby, where Harry prevented them from leaving the building.

"What are you doing? We need to get out of here," Tiên exclaimed.

"I need to know that she's safe," Harry said. "You go on without me."

"Don't be stupid. You could get caught and then we'll have an even bigger problem," Tiên snapped.

"I don't care. I'm not leaving until I know she's okay," Harry said adamantly.

"Look-" Tiên began but just then, Sam came burst through the stairwell in water form. He swept both Harry and Tiên through the door, accidentally knocking Harry out in the process.

Outside, the metas still stranded on the opposite side of the forcefield rushed to the three who had just passed the threshold.

"We need to get out of here," Sam said as he turned back into human form.

Cisco quickly breached everyone, excluding Vicky and Caitlin, back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

Vicky and Caitlin caught their breath as they momentarily rested against a dumpster in an alley several blocks away from Caitlin's apartment. Caitlin thought back to the events at her apartment. When Harry had let go of her hand, she had been petrified. Caitlin had been vaguely aware that Vicky was lightly tugged her along towards the window as they had originally planned but she was too preoccupied with DeVoe and Harry's exchange.

 _How fitting that this song would replace your earlier thoughts of Caitlin Snow_

Caitlin chided herself for becoming hopeful at that moment. They were in a life-threatening situation and she was supposed to be focusing on blocking her thoughts. She didn't catch any more of the exchange because they had made it to the window. Caitlin silently thanked god that she had opened the window earlier because it meant they were less likely to make noise while climbing out.

Vicky climbed out effortlessly but Caitlin had had a bit more trouble. When the two had successfully exited the room and were hanging on for dear life to the edge of the window sill, Caitlin called on Frost to create a slide made of ice that the two of them used to get to the ground safely. Unfortunately, as they slid down, both lost their earpieces.

Oddly, they didn't see any of their friends outside. Not knowing what else to do, the two had made a run for it. Neither had their phones or wallets on them so they couldn't contact the others or cab to S.T.A.R. Labs.

"I think we should head to CCPD," Caitlin suggested once her breathing had returned to normal. "It's the closest place I know where we can trust someone."

"Okay let's do it," Vicky said before they turned invisible and began running again.

Once he had regained consciousness, Harry immediately jumped up.

"Where is Caitlin?" he demanded.

"We… don't know yet," Iris said hesitantly.

Harry scoffed, "No, of course you don't." Turning to address Sam, he said dangerously, "And you, Mr. Circus Act. What made you think you could just move me wherever you pleased? I had a plan."

"Which was? Caitlin is probably with Vicky, invisible. They could literally be _anywhere_. What were you going to do? Wave that heat detector all over the place until you found them?" Sam retorted.

"That's exactly what I was going to do and it would have _worked_ if you hadn't _interfered_."

"It would have gotten you killed!"

"AT LEAST SHE WOULD BE SAFE."

"HOW DO YOU THINK WE FEEL? One of our friends is captured and the other is wherever your friend is. At least we were able to focus on our priorities and protect whoever we could still save, unlike you who just went rogue without thinking about the consequences."

"Okay that's enough!" Iris interrupted just as Harry was about to retaliate . "This isn't productive at all. Cisco is working on tracking Caitlin and Vicky as we speak. Your shouting match isn't helping anyone but what _would_ help is if you shared what exactly went down in Caitlin's apartment."

The two took turns recounting their respective side of the story. Tiên also explained how she had mimicked Vicky's power before they had all arrived at Caitlin's apartment, and then followed after Harry when he had burst into her apartment.

"But then why didn't DeVoe sense you or something? Shouldn't he have been hearing your thoughts as well?" Iris inquired.

Tiên shrugged, "Honestly, I completely forgot that he would be able to do that. After Harry told us to block our thoughts, I freaked out a little bit but I was surprised when he didn't mention me. Then, when I attacked them blindly, he didn't seem to have anticipated it so maybe there's something wrong with him?"

"Yeah, he should have accounted for the possibility that we would send Caitlin home with some protection, if not the whole brigade that we did bring," Wally agreed.

"Well hopefully we can use that to our advantage. At this point, I think DeVoe is more dangerous than ever so baiting him won't work anymore. For the time being, we should just work on alerting the officers guarding the rest of the metas that DeVoe might be coming for them, although I doubt he will, and locating-"

"Got them!" called Cisco. "They're on the run. It looks like they're headed to CCPD. I'll breach over there and pick them up now."

"I'm going with you," Harry stated.

Cisco simply shrugged and opened the breach. As they did, Masuma, who had been quiet during the entire discussion, silently withdrew from the group while the others were preoccupied. Ralph noticed this and he followed her into the medical wing.

Sensing Ralph behind her, Masuma said, "I have something I need to tell you."


	14. Running in circles

Thanks to Mustard Lady for your review! This chapter is a bit of a wild ride so... enjoy I guess?

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Running in circles**

It wasn't long after Harry and Cisco arrived at the station that Caitlin and Vicky walked through the doors. When Caitlin saw Harry, she was filled with an overwhelming amount of emotions. She rushed over to him and gave him a hug.

"Thank god you're alright!" Caitlin exclaimed as she stepped backwards. "What were you thinking separating from us like that?"

"It's good to see you too, Snow," Harry said with that twinkle in his eye that she loved. Then he too stepped backwards a little and said, "Well somebody had to. We couldn't talk to each other without giving away our position and we were giving our plan away just by standing there so we needed a distraction. I'm just glad that it all worked out and," Harry said before pausing and continuing softly, "I'm sorry for earlier."

Caitlin nodded and, with an understanding smile, said "I forgive you."

Cisco smirked at the entire exchange after he made sure Vicky was alright. Aside from fatigue, she seemed perfectly fine.

"Alright, lovebirds. We need a plan as soon as possible so let's bounce," Cisco said.

Harry didn't even bother denying it and instead settled for flicking Cisco in the back of the head, earning an indignant 'Hey' from the latter. Caitlin had blushed but she was thankful no one had seemed to notice. She didn't have a proper conversation with Harry so she certainly wasn't ready to talk about her feelings with Harry with an outside party, even if that outside party happened to be her best friend.

Then, Cisco opened a breach and the four of them appeared in S.T.A.R. Labs. As they stepped into the cortex, they found themselves in the middle of utter chaos. The entire team seemed to be in heated discussions with each other.

"Hey! What's going on?" Cisco shouted over the discord.

A chagrined Masuma said, "I may have withheld some information…"

"Okay everyone, cut her some slack. She had promised not to tell ANYONE but she chose to in order to help us defeat DeVoe," Ralph insisted. He hadn't expected the team to be this angry with Masuma.

"But this could be the key to defeating DeVoe and we can't even do anything about it now!" Barry exclaimed.

"WHAT are you talking about?" Cisco demanded, exasperated.

"Jason confided in Masuma about the extent of his powers. Apparently, not only can he heal physical wounds, but he can also 'heal' dark matter afflictions," Wally explained.

"In other words, Jason can take away people's meta-human abilities," Iris said. "What I don't understand is why you waited so long to tell us."

"Well, initially he didn't even want to join. Then I convinced him to heal Caitlin but he left shortly afterwards because he… disagreed with the way your team handles things. He also lost his friend to the battle so I don't blame him for wanting to stay away from it all. I didn't want to betray his trust by dragging him back in by revealing a secret he confided in me. But now that he's captured, it changes everything," Masuma explained. "Also, think about it. If we were to suddenly tell you we had a meta on our side who could take away meta-human abilities, you guys never would have trusted us."

"We-" Barry began before being interrupted.

"Look, what's done is done. All we can do now is move forward with this information," Caitlin said.

"Yeah and now we know why DeVoe was off his game," Harry said, suddenly becoming animated. "He already used Healer to heal Ruth's body after the battle."

"So all we have to do is injure her and the rest will take care of itself," Vicky concluded.

"Yes but _how_?" Barry asked, "We're back to square one where we don't know where The Thinker is."

"Yes but he's significantly less powerful. He doesn't have his chair, and the only other person on his side is Whisper, and I guess Ruth, if you want to think of them as two separate people," Wally pointed out.

"Where is his chair?" Sam inquired. "What if he's going back to get it?"

"It's held by A.R.G.U.S. but considering how easy it was for Ruth to infiltrate the place the first time, and now combined with DeVoe, it would be a piece of cake for them to get ahold of it," Cisco said as he moved towards a monitor. "I'll let A.R.G.U.S. know and then hack into their security feed to see if we can find any evidence of an invisible intruder."

"Well, considering they have dead weight with them, it should be considerably easier to trace them," Ralph said.

"I highly doubt they're still carrying Healer with them. I think they just brought him to Snow's apartment to trigger Frost," Harry pointed out.

"Okay. Harry, Caitlin, and I will watch the security footage while Wally, Vicky, and Masuma can stay here for protection purposes. Dad, take Shannel and Sam and search Jason's house. We need all the clues we can get. Barry, you take the rest of the metas out to Lyla and see if she will let you destroy the chair or, at the very least, guard it." said Iris.

Everyone got to work. After about an hour of staring at the screens, Iris called Barry to check in. A.R.G.U.S. was proving hard to deal with so they were still in the negotiation phase. Harry called Joe who wasn't making any progress at Jason's house either.

"Maybe we were wrong," Caitlin suggested.

"Or maybe we need to wait more than an hour before giving up, Snow," Harry said irritably.

"Look, Harry. We're all exhausted but you don't see the rest of us being grumpy or rude," Caitlin shot back.

Harry glanced at her and hesitated slightly before grumbling, "Sorry."

"Thank you," Caitlin said. "Now, where else could they possibly be?"

"In his lair, which we don't know how to access," Iris said

"That wouldn't be useful unless they had some sort of secret weapon in the making there," Caitlin said.

"And if they did, they probably would have used it a while ago," Harry said.

"So this _is_ the most likely place they will come to at some point," Iris concluded.

Suddenly there was a meta-human alert.

"Great," Iris groaned. "We've been so caught up with DeVoe that we didn't account for other emergencies." After further inspection, Iris frowned and said, "Get this, the alert is coming from the DeVoe house."

"This could be a trap. West, do you think you'll be fine with just two people for backup?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, it's a good variety of powers," Wally said. Then, he sped out with Vicky and Masuma.

"Harry and Caitlin, you guys keep watching the security cameras and I'll handle things on this side," Iris said.

"We're about to go in," Wally whispered over the microphone. "We're going invisible so we likely won't be able to respond."

S.T.A.R. Labs was completely silent for about half an hour. Iris was about to speak when Wally arrived, carrying Jason's badly injured body.

Caitlin lept up from her seat and ran to them. "What happened?" she gasped.

"And where are Vicky and Masuma?" asked Iris.

"I'm going back for them. Just let me put him down," Wally said. Then he sped to the medical wing, leaving Jason on the cot before speeding away again.

"I'll get started on fixing him up," Caitlin announced as she left the cortex.

"I guess we just keep looking," Iris said to Harry as she pulled up the security footage again.

Moments later, Wally arrived with the other two. He proceeded to explain what had happened while Masuma and Vicky filled Caitlin in while she tended to Jason.

"We got there and the place was empty. We decided just to remain quiet and move along using Vicky's invisibility to cover us just in case they had cameras set up or were using Whisper's invisibility to cover themselves as well. Anyway, we eventually made our way to the basement and found Jason. He was lying on the ground with a bloody phone in his hand, which I'm guessing he used to send the alert before he passed out. We went to pick him up but then we heard a noise so we checked it out. It turned out to be a cat so we went back to pick up Jason. I took Jason first then went back for Vicky and Masuma because it would have been hard to take all four of us," Wally said. Then he added, "Before I came back just now, I managed to plant one of those bees we used during the battle so we can keep an eye on their house as well."

Harry nodded and said, "Good thinking. A.R.G.U.S. has been quiet so at least we have eyes on two areas that they'll probably appear at."

Harry's eyes wandered briefly in the direction of the medical wing before he forced himself to focus on the screen.

"Here Harry, let me take over. You've been staring at that screen for ages. Caitlin may need some help with Jason anyway," Wally said in a poorly hidden attempt at allowing Harry to talk to Caitlin.

Harry nodded his thanks and went to check in on Caitlin. When he arrived in the room, he saw that Caitlin, with the help of Vicky who seemed to have an array of hidden talents, had managed to patch up Jason's major wounds.

"I wonder what he did…" Masuma sighed sadly.

"Nothing. Nothing warrants this," Caitlin said firmly. "But don't worry, he will be better in no time, then we can stop the monster who did this to him."

"She's right," Harry said, walking nearer to them. "DeVoe is insane but as soon as your friend is healed up, we can use whatever new information Jason might have to take DeVoe down."

"But there's so much blood," Masuma said as her calm facade slipped slightly and her voice wavered.

"Don't worry," Harry said to Masuma before turning to look at Caitlin and saying, "Our Dr. Snow is the best at what she does. He is in good hands." At his words, Caitlin smiled up at him as she continued her work and he looked back at her as if to say 'It's true.'

Masuma nodded but it was evident that she was still upset. Vicky was also upset but she realized that neither she nor Masuma would be able to help Caitlin so she led Masuma out of the medical wing to see if the others needed any help. She figured keeping busy would be a welcome distraction for both of them.

Left alone with the unconscious body of Healer, Harry decided it probably wasn't the best time for them to really talk so he simply asked, "Anything I can do?"

"Yeah, actually. Can you bring some gauze from the cabinet over there?" Caitlin responded, still busy in her work. She too wanted so badly to talk to Harry but she knew they wouldn't be able to speak freely here. Besides, she liked to keep her full attention on her patient as she worked. Her perfectionist tendencies really showed as she carefully measured and cut each bandage and applied them to the recently-cleaned wounds.

"How's he doing?" Harry said as he passed Caitlin the gauze.

After finishing up the last bandage, Caitlin pulled off her gloves and said, "Surprisingly well. His vitals are fine and the wounds themselves, although pretty serious, should heal over time. From what I can tell, he should be conscious by the end of the day or tomorrow morning. "

"Well the earlier the better. We can't keep being sitting ducks," Harry said.

Unbeknownst to the two of them, Masuma had overheard their conversation from the entrance way. Although she was relieved that her friend would be alright, she was also anxious about what they said. She also didn't want to hurt her friend but she also knew they needed more information so that they could attack DeVoe while he was weaker and before he had a chance to gather more followers. Making her decision, she walked back into the medical wing.

Before they could say anything, Masuma said, "Trust me," as she attempted to shake Jason awake.

Harry and Caitlin moved quickly to try and hold her back but before they could touch her, Masuma attacked them with a darkness bubble.

"Snow!" Harry called out in concern. He reached to steady her as she fell back towards him. However, he wasn't stable either so they both toppled to the floor.

"Stop it Masuma! You're going to hurt him!" Caitlin screamed. "Somebody help!"

But nobody heard them. Shaking him awake wasn't working so Masuma took a deep breath and whispered, "Sorry, friend." Then, she took the nearest blunt object and jabbed one of Jason's injuries.


	15. The beginning of the end

Mustard Lady same

Little story about this chapter: There's a line in here that goes '"Cute," Jason said sarcastically,' and my dad's cousin happened to glance at it when I was writing my draft on the plane to Disneyland this past summer. He echoed it back to me as we were leaving the plane and so everyone else in our group started questioning it and eventually I told them a bit about the character and his purpose in the story. They all thought my ideas were 'lame' and so throughout the trip, they invented their own backstories about Jason. One time, as we were passing through the line for Indiana Jones, I pointed to a skeleton and said, "Look it's Jason," and they were like "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? YOU CAN'T KILL JASON!" and ever since then my dad's cousin has been trying to convince me to hand over creative rights to the character.

Also, I can't believe the next season is starting so soon! I don't know if I'm ready...

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash

* * *

 **Chapter 15: The beginning of the end**

A blood-curdling scream filled the room as Jason was forced into consciousness. The others heard the commotion so Wally sped to the medical wing to see what had happened. He saw Masuma standing over Jason while Harry and Caitlin were using each other for support as they attempted to stand.

"What is going on?" Wally asked.

"Stop her!" Harry said, attempting to point at Masuma but pointing to Caitlin instead.

"Wha-" Wally began before being cut off.

"We were trying to stop Masuma from waking Jason up but it's too late," Caitlin said. "I want her out of here."

"Heal yourself," Masuma frantically yelled, thinking she would be carted away shortly.

"Wait," Caitlin said as she held up a hand to stop Wally from stepping forward. "But won't that take away his powers?"

"I don't know but we need answers now," Masuma said.

"But if his powers are gone, how are we going to continue with our plan?" Wally asked.

"How can we do anything if they skip town? Isn't it better to get DeVoe while he's down rather than five years down the line when he has a full on army of crazy metas?" Masuma countered.

Jason was groaning and seemed to be severely disoriented. His head was moving side to side and Masuma stared at him with guilt and concern.

"He might go into shock. We don't really have any choice now," Caitlin said. Then rubbing her temples she added, "Ugh it's too hard to concentrate. Just try to calm him down, would you, Wally?"

Stepping forward, Wally spoke, "Jason? Can you hear me?" When Jason's thrashing slowed down, he continued, "Can you focus on my voice for a minute? We need you to heal yourself if you can."

Jason seemed to register the command the second time and weakly raised a hand to his chest, where one of his most severe wounds was. He grew still for a moment before a dim green light appeared.

"That's not going to be enough…" Masuma sighed.

The light seemed to get sucked into the injury as it had when Jason had healed Caitlin but the light didn't turn orange. Jason dropped his arm to his side with a groan.

"You have to try again," Masuma urged. But Jason couldn't seem to summon the strength to try again.

Then, Ralph appeared at the entrance of the medical wing. Looking at the scene before him, he said, "What the HELL is going on?"

"That's it!" Harry cried suddenly. "Get Ramon. We need someone to take a blood sample of Dibny."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa I didn't agree to that," Ralph said, putting his hands up in defense and stepping backwards. "Masuma, what's going on?"

"I might have done something stupid…" Masuma said forlornly.

Taking in her expression, Ralph paused a moment before nodding and saying, "Alright, I'll get Cisco. Masuma, will you come with me?"

She nodded slowly and followed timidly. Ralph offered her a small smile and once she had made her way to him, they walked together.

"Quickly!" Harry shouted when he realized they weren't running. Then he groaned and clutched his head. The disorientation was still affecting both Harry and Caitlin so they both eventually sat on the ground to stop the room from spinning.

Once the others had left, Caitlin looked at Harry with blurry vision and said, "Well, at least the blindness is starting to wear off…"

"Really? I can't see you," Harry said.

"Maybe it's because your vision is weaker than mine," Caitlin suggested.

"Yeah, rub it in," Harry said, causing Caitlin to giggle.

There wasn't much for them to do while they waited for the others. Jason seemed to have calmed down slightly after healing himself slightly and Caitlin figured she would to more harm than help if she tried to get up and examine him. For the time being, both of them were stuck on the ground, blindly waiting for things to progress.

They were quiet for a moment. Then, Harry reached out in the direction that he had last heard Caitlin's voice. Sensing his hand next to her, Caitlin reached out and brushed his fingers. He caught her hand and held it in his.

This wasn't new. Caitlin had held his hands in excitement when explaining her plan and he himself had held her hands to convey the sincerity of his words when he told her he would return after visiting Jesse. But it was different each time. The first was more of an awkward moment that Harry hadn't drawn attention to. The second was a sense of urgency. Now it was a sign of support. Harry was trying to let her know that he was there for her in this chaotic time and that, even though there was a patient potentially dying on the cot, they would get through this and eventually everything would be alright.

Caitlin's mind had been racing, which wasn't helping the headache she had gained from over exerting herself earlier. Harry's support meant a lot to her. Whether he was offering it as a friend or as something more, she was just glad to have him by her side while this whole thing played out. Being the only doctor on the team, it was her responsibility to heal anyone on or associated with the team that was injured on the field. Times like these made her feel immensely pressured because, even though it may not have been her fault that the patient was injured, she needed to push everything she had been through aside and prioritize saving this person's life. Although Cisco was in search for a magical cure, she still needed to be on guard to offer her medical expertise in case things went awry - or, more accurately, more awry than they had already gone. So far, the team had been lucky that only one person at a time had been seriously injured or else they would have dealt with a lot more fatalities over the years due to a shortage of trained doctors and nurses on the team. Having Harry reach out to tell her he was there helped to quiet these anxieties and Caitlin gave him a small smile, although she didn't think he could see it.

Breaking the silence, Harry asked, "How are you feeling now?"

Before Caitlin could answer, Jason's voice could be heard from the bed, "Who's there? WHO'S THERE, DAMN IT!"

"Calm down, Jason! It's us… well you don't really know Harry but I'm Caitlin, remember? The one you healed? Then I turned into this frosty person?" Caitlin called out desperately. Harry attempted to help her as she got up. When they successfully stood, their hands parted but neither was worried about that at the moment.

"Why are you here? Where am I?" Jason said, starting to panic again. He cried out in pain as his injuries made themselves known again.

Thankfully, the others arrived and Masuma appeared at Jason's side to help calm him down.

"Ramon, are you here?" Harry asked.

"Yeah man, what's up? Ralph said something about a blood sample?" Cisco replied.

"Dibny is resilient and can withstand most injuries. If we could harness Barry's speed, why can't we harness Dibny's healing abilities?" Harry explained quickly.

"Whoa there. I don't know if that's going to be as easy as it sounds," Cisco said. "I may have a better plan. When Caitlin was recovering, Felicity mentioned that they had come up with a healing balm thing that they were going to use to help Oliver and the others recover quicker from any injuries they got on the field. The problem was that they hadn't tested it on anyone before and they were worried that there might be possible side-effects because it uses a strong ancient plant that's really potent."

"Do it," Masuma said from Jason's side. "He's in a lot of pain and he's burning up."

"The injuries might be infected," Caitlin said. "We need to act fast. I don't think I'm going to be able to help for a while so someone else is going to have to take care of him for now."

Cisco nodded and breached to Star City while Wally returned to the cortex to help the others. Cisco returned about ten minutes later, carrying the a container filled with healing balm in his hands. He handed the balm off to Ralph and breached back to join Barry.

Caitlin instructed Masuma and Ralph on what to do to ensure they dressed the wounds properly after applying the balm. Moments went by and nothing seemed to happen. Then, Jason's breathing slowed and he seemed to relax back to sleep.

Caitlin's vision had slowly improved to a stage where she could recognize faces but they still weren't too clear.

"Okay good work. Harry and I can monitor Jason from now on. Masuma, you go help the others. Ralph, can you stay outside and make sure no one comes in? There's a chance that they will come back for him and I'd feel better if we had another line of defense," Caitlin said.

Masuma nodded and left as Ralph said, "On it," before stretching himself out like a sheet and covering the entrance to the medical wing.

"That's not exactly what I meant but okay…" Caitlin muttered under her breath. When she heard Harry snicker, she turned to him and asked, "Is your vision improving too?"

"I just see blobs but I have a pretty good idea what Dibny just did," he replied. "I still have a splitting headache though…"

"Here, I'll get some Advil," Caitlin said.

But as she walked to the cabinet on the far side of the room, she tripped over a cart that Ralph had left in the way while he and Masuma were attending to Jason. Harry, whose orientation was recovering faster than his vision, quickly caught her and pulled her close to him to prevent her from crashing into the cart again.

"Oh I see, I'm not here just to keep out DeVoe," Ralph, who had turned his head around when he heard Caitlin crash into the cart, teased while wiggling his eyebrows.

"Shut up, Dibny," Harry shot back lamely. He realized he was still holding Caitlin close and gently let go of her shoulders.

Avoiding eye contact, Caitlin retrieved the Advil. She poured a cup of water and brought both items to Harry. It was Harry's turn to curse his vision.

After thanking her for the medicine, he quietly spoke, "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. Both just now and earlier."

"Wha-No that's not it at all!" Caitlin said quickly. Then quietly, she added, "I just don't think we should be sharing this - whatever _this_ is - with the rest of the group until we've talked it through ourselves."

"Ah I see. That makes sense," Harry said. He was just relieved that he hadn't offended her.

"I mean, don't take it the wrong way, it's not like I'm ashamed of us or anything. I just think it would be less complicated if we figured out where we stand before being bombarded with questions from the others," Caitlin clarified.

Harry nodded, "I agree. That's very sensible, Snow."

Although she couldn't see it clearly, Caitlin knew he had that endearing twinkle in his eye accompanied by a small smile. She smiled back at him, even though she knew he couldn't see.

The two of them spent the next few hours in comfortable silence while they concentrated on monitoring Jason's condition. Their disorientation and blindness had worn off by the end of the first hour and the Advil had helped with the headaches. As for the patient, Jason's fever seemed to be going down but he began getting restless again about two hours in. They had reapplied the balm, praying that the side-effects wouldn't be severe.

By the end of the third hour, Iris came to check up on them.

"Sorry but I'm under strict instructions not to let anyone in," Ralph said, then added in a loud whisper, "Caitlin and Harry need some private time."

"I can literally see them, they're monitoring Jason," Iris said with a roll of her eyes.

"Wha-How?!" Ralph exclaimed.

"There's a window, you moron," Harry called from inside.

Ralph huffed as he returned to his normal form to let Iris through. Just as Iris entered the room, Jason's eyes fluttered open.

"Hey there," Caitlin said. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been sliced open in multiple places on my body - oh wait, that's because I have been," Jason said sarcastically.

"Good, now that you're awake, you can give us information on DeVoe," Harry said. Caitlin shot him an unimpressed look at his lack of bedside manner to which he just shrugged and said, "What?"

"All I know is that he's going for his chair," Jason said.

"Great," Iris said in frustration. "This poor guy went through hell and back for a piece of information we already knew."

"Wait. I remember them saying they would be going at midnight, when there was the least amount of security," Jason added.

"Okay, that's enough questions. We need to let him rest and recover," Caitlin ordered.

"Okay. Caitlin, you stay here with Jason. Ralph, Wally, and Vicky, you'll be switching out with Cisco, Tiên, and Olivia at 11:30 but for now, go get some rest," Iris ordered.

"Yes!" Ralph said with a fist pump. "Being a human door was tiring…"

"Literally no one asked you to do that," retorted Caitlin. She was still kind of wary of him after the comment he made earlier.

"In the meantime, Harry, can you come help us monitor? I still think we should keep an eye out in case their plan changes."

Harry nodded and casually brushed his fingers against Caitlin's arm as he passed her on his way out. Ralph skipped happily after him, totally oblivious to the exchange but everyone else in the room had noticed.

"Oh my god," Iris mouthed to Caitlin as she exited behind Harry. Caitlin just rolled her eyes in response but when the three had left, she secretly smiled to herself.

"Cute," Jason said sarcastically.

The smile disappeared from Caitlin's face as she said, "What?"

"Oh nothing. It's just that you're over there making googly eyes at your boyfriend while I'm lying ripped open on a cot in some unauthorized lab is all," Jason said nonchalantly.

Caitlin frowned slightly before she spoke, "Hey, I'm grateful you healed me and everything but if you hadn't noticed, we did save you from an evil mastermind and got ahold of some powerful medicine to help heal those cuts. You're doing much better than when you came in here so if you could lay off the sarcasm, that would be great."

"Right so because I'm not a part of your little club here, I don't really matter and somewhat healed is good enough, I get it."

"H- when did I say that? And for your information, it was your friend, Masuma, who jabbed you right in the chest while you were healing which caused all of the problems that happened afterwards," Caitlin exclaimed. Jason said nothing but Caitlin continued, "So sure, maybe we're acting inappropriately in your eyes but this is our life. We have to fit in down time where were can get it."

"So in recruiting us, you would make our lives a living hell too."

Caitlin exploded, "We get it, your friend died and that's an impossibly tragic thing. But we've _all_ lost people since this town started producing super humans. And we would have lost more if people like The Flash hadn't stepped up to stop all of the bad guys. We literally fight everyday to keep this city safe. We're using what that particle accelerator did to us to help stop people who misuse their powers. We're not the police, this is not our job. We're under no obligation to do this, yet here we are." At this, Caitlin realized she had echoed some of her earlier advice to Jesse. "And it's not like we put a gun to your head forcing you to join us. We asked for help and your entire team stepped up to do so, which we are very grateful for. But then some left because it wasn't for them and we completely understood. Yes, unfortunately your friend wasn't given the choice to back out. But he died an honourable death. Just like my late husband, who helped stabilize a singularity that would have destroyed the whole world."

Jason was quiet for a moment. Then he finally spoke softly, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," Caitlin responded softly. Then she sighed and said, "Look, I'm sorry for blowing up like that. This job can be a little stressful at times and I just… I don't know. I guess I just got defensive. We're all just trying our best to get through this nightmare."

"No, I really shouldn't have said those things. I'm just frustrated and I took it out on you," Jason said with a sideways glance at Caitlin. "But don't get me wrong. I'm still not joining your team," he added after seeing her smile at his words.

Caitlin nodded and said, "And that's your decision to make. Thanks again for coming in to heal me."

Jason simply nodded in response. There was silence for a while as Caitlin monitored Jason's vitals.

"So, why _did_ you join this team?" Jason inquired eventually.

"Well, that's a long story…" Caitlin trailed off as she set up an I.V. so Jason would get some nutrients.

"Well there's not much else for me to do," Jason said indifferently.

Caitlin frowned at him and tilted her head. "Okay... " she said before continuing, "The gist of it is that I worked here when S.T.A.R. Labs was still up and running and I stuck around for the people and to help out in the way I know how."

"So when you say people, you mean your boyfriend," Jason stated.

Caitlin shook her head, "No, Harry, who is not my boyfriend by the way, wasn't here at the time. I stayed for my mentor, my best friend, and a new hope - The Flash and his potential to become this city's hero, to be specific, which he did."

Jason nodded in understanding, "You really are big on the whole 'Do the right thing' motto, aren't you?"

"Well, I don't know about that. I mean, there are definitely times I've acted selfishly," Caitlin responded, thinking back to when she had kept a shard of the Philosopher's Stone for her own personal mission to try and rid herself of Killer Frost's powers. Thankfully everything had worked out but it wasn't something she was proud of.

Jason shook his head and said, "No, I can tell. You're a good person. Tell me, does it bother you that I'm not willing to go that far? That I'm more worried about my personal safety than the city's?"

"No, of course not. I don't know you or your priorities in life. Yes, I think you would be an excellent asset to the team, but I'm not going to judge you if you don't. You have your own life and problems to deal with so if the job's not for you, it's not for you."

Again, Jason nodded slowly. He lay there silently, looking deep in thought.

Caitlin spoke again, "I don't know you that well but why do I get the feeling that there's something you're not telling me?"

"That's because there is," Jason said. Upon seeing her about to question him, he spoke before she could, "Don't worry, it's nothing to do with any of this. It's my own personal issue."

"Oh okay. Well if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm a good listener," Caitlin offered.

"Thanks but this is something I need to figure out for myself," he responded.

Eventually, Jason nodded off while Caitlin remained awake, monitoring him. She tried to keep busy so she wouldn't go crazy with worry about how the others were doing.

By the time 11:30 rolled around, everyone was running out of steam. Thankfully, the three who got some rest were out on the field where they could improvise if need be. Shannel and Sam had also joined them there to help in whatever way they could. Harry and Iris had taken turns monitoring and resting so they were also ready to help out from S.T.A.R. Labs.

Iris took a deep breath before she spoke over the microphone, "Here we go people. Third time's the charm."


	16. Collaborative effort

So in all honesty this should have been the last chapter but I couldn't bring myself to let this story go just quite yet so there is going to be at least one more chapter, possibly two.

Mustard Lady: Thank you for your kind review! I try my best to keep the banter in character but even if it doesn't quite hit the mark all the time, it's still a lot of fun to write!

Has everyone seen the new episode? I thought it was pretty promising but I won't spoil anything for those who haven't got around to it yet. And if there are any fans of Doctor Who, how awesome was that season 11 premiere?! I was thoroughly impressed. If you don't watch the show, I would highly recommend giving it a try at least! Anyway, on with the story:

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash

 **Chapter 16: Collaborative effort**

The alarm signalling an intruder had breached the A.R.G.U.S. base went off at precisely 12 a.m. The team jumped to action as Harry and Iris gave instructions over the microphone.

"Dibny, use your human wall," Harry instructed while Iris said, "Flood the hallway," to Sam.

Although DeVoe and Whisper couldn't be seen, the team was able to lure them into the hallway they wanted. Shannel was used as a decoy to take away DeVoe's focus as Vicky tagged along with Barry to keep them both invisible. They attempted to follow the invisible intruders down the corridor and into the room they intended to trap them in.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan until suddenly, Vicky and Barry found themselves falling.

"How is that even possible? The blueprints of the building don't show a basement," Masuma blurted out.

"Quick, someone help them!" exclaimed Iris over the microphone.

"On it!" shouted Sam as he launched himself down the trap door the other two had fallen through. As he fell, he transformed into water once more. Upon reaching the ground, Sam transformed back into human form, except for his hands which he used to create a whirlpool that softened the blow for Barry and Vicky.

Suddenly there was a large clank as the trap door returned to its original position. The three trapped in the "basement" concealed themselves using Vicky's invisibility in case Whisper and DeVoe were lurking about.

"Damn it! We've lost the signal," Iris exclaimed as Harry moved towards his phone. "What are you doing?"

"I'm calling Olivia. Her earthquake abilities would be pretty useful right about now," Harry explained.

"Let me go too," Masuma said.

"Not a chance," Iris snapped. "After what you did, we shouldn't even let you stay in the building."

"West-Allen," Harry said in a voice that suggested that he thought she was going too far.

"I completely understand how you're feeling but the more of us out there, the better our chance of defeating them. I promise to do exactly what you tell me too. A-and I'm really sorry about earlier as well - I was out of line," Masuma insisted.

Iris sighed, "Alright. Go."

Moments later, Olivia and Masuma had been breached to the location with Cisco's help. Cisco returned to get some rest in case they needed to bring someone else later on. Olivia immediately began focusing her powers on a small area on the ground floor in order to create a split in the floor. Once she was done, Ralph, Wally, Shannel, and Olivia peered in. Realizing they couldn't be seen, Vicky stopped using her power and revealed themselves to the others.

"Quick, use your bubbles!" Olivia exclaimed to Masuma in urgency. Under any other circumstance, Masuma would have giggled at the choice of words but at the moment she was determined to prove herself after the last terrible blunder so she began to shoot.

"I won't hit you, so don't move," she instructed the three in the pit.

"I have a better idea," Sam said just before transforming into a protective water sphere around the other two.

"Neat," Vicky commented in approval.

"Honestly, why are we even here?" Iris exclaimed. "These guys are pros!"

After about fifteen minutes of sending darkness bubbles into the opening in the ground, Masuma stood back to observe her work. Once the bubbles had faded away, Sam did a quick surface check of the floor to see where DeVoe and Whisper may be hiding.

"There's no one here…" Sam said.

"And all the exits are sealed so they couldn't have gotten out," Barry said after doing a quick check of all the doors in the room.

Suddenly, a large black screen that hung on one end of the room turned on. There, on the screen, stood DeVoe (in Ruth's body), and Whisper, both of whom were smirking.

"Mr. Allen," DeVoe drawled. "By now I'm sure you're wondering how we escaped. It's simple really; we were never there."

"How is that possible? Who tripped the alarm?" Sam demanded.

"I hacked into the alarm system of course. Once I had let you capture Healer, I knew he would feed you the information about our supposed 'attack' at 12 a.m. I must say, I was expecting more astute observation. Did you not notice that when-Tidal Wave, was it?- went to heroically save Mr. Allen and Ghost that there was no outline of us in the water? At any rate, we're running behind schedule. I was hoping to get to bed by about 1 a.m. so if you'll excuse me, I will take my leave now." The screen went blank and the three exchanged bleak expressions.

There was a loud screeching noise and everyone jumped.

"I'll go check if DeVoe is in the building," called Wally from above. However, as he took off to begin his search, he found that he couldn't run at super speed.

Seeing the look of confusion on his face, the others tried their powers but no one was able to do anything. They called down to Vicky, Barry, and Sam but they were in the same boat.

"He must have set up power dampeners," observed Olivia.

"Great! And the whole place is in lockdown by our doing. I'm sure he still has control of the building so we won't be able to leave," Shannel said.

"You guys hang tight down there. We'll try to find a way out," Olivia called down to the three below.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Harry yelled, "We were set up!" as he slammed his fist on the table. Without another word, he charged towards the medical bay. Iris called after him but to no avail.

"You," he growled once he had arrived, pointing at Jason. "You're working with DeVoe. Well guess what? Your _pal_ just ratted you out-"

"Let me just stop you there," Jason interrupted. "Do I _look_ like I was working with him? Do you think I _wanted_ to be beat up within an inch of my life?"

"What's going on?" asked Caitlin.

But her question was lost in the commotion as Iris hissed, "We don't have time for this," from the doorway. "We need to figure out where DeVoe is."

Suddenly, the power went out in S.T.A.R. Labs. Everyone went silent. Harry slowly made his way over to Caitlin and held her hand. She squeezed it tightly for a moment before relaxing. She reached for her phone but Harry stopped her and shook his head slightly. Caitlin recalled that the last time she had sent out a meta alert on her phone and understood what he meant. Iris ended up sending out the alert.

Moments later, Cisco breached himself and Tiên to S.T.A.R. Labs. Seeing that Cisco was about to speak, Iris put a finger to her lips.

 _Can we get to the fly cams?_ Harry typed out on his phone before silently showing it to Iris.

Iris simply shook her head and wrote in response, _It would be too risky._

Behind them, Jason struggled to raise his arm. Caitlin put her free hand on Harry's shoulder to get his attention before she pointed to Jason. He pointed outwards in the direction of Cisco and Tiên, who stepped towards him. Jason reached for Tiên and then it dawned on her. Taking his power, Tiên rushed towards the cortex.

"Mockingbird!" Cisco whisper-yelled.

"Genius," Harry muttered in approval which made Jason smirk slightly.

"Only if it works," Jason whispered back.

When she reached her destination, Tiên stopped and looked around. She didn't have to wait long because a few seconds later she heard a voice from the direction of the hallway.

"My, my. When Mr. Wells made his sacrifice, I could understand. After all, he _is_ in love with Miss Snow. But this is a surprise. Have you become so attached to this team in a matter of days that you would sacrifice yourself to save them? Not that you will be successful, but it's the thought that counts I suppose," DeVoe said.

"The opposite actually," replied Tiên, stepping towards the voice, "I want to join you."

This time DeVoe, joined by Whisper, laughed out loud, "Come now, you can't think me that gullible."

"It's true. I knocked out the rest of them and stole the Healer's powers. Let me prove it to you. Let me heal you," Tiên said, praying that his mind-reading abilities were still weak. Still, she kept the song, Sau Tất Cả, in her head as a safety net.

"A very generous offer but I am not injured so I don't require healing," DeVoe replied. "However, I am intrigued by your change in alliances."

He let go of Whisper and revealed himself to mere steps away from Tiên. Seconds later, Whisper revealed himself as well. Then, in one quick movement, DeVoe smashed one of the glass tables to the right of him. Taking one of the glass shards, he slashed Whisper's bicep.

"Show us what you can do," DeVoe said with a twisted smile.

Pushing away her shock and horror, Tiên continued to run the lyrics of the song through her head. Imitating the few times she had seen Jason use his powers, she held her hand over Whisper's injury and tried to imagine the wound healing up while simultaneously trying to work in some prayer of taking his invisibility away in addition to the healing. As she did so, a green light spread over Whisper's bicep, turned into an orange light and finally a pinkish-red light as Whisper's injury completely disappeared. A split second before it disappeared however, there was a quick white wisp that seemed to come out of Whisper. Tiên had never seen that when Jason had healed someone in the past so she assumed that she was successful in taking away his invisibility.

"Hmm. Good but it's going to take a lot more than a party trick to convince me of your loyalty," DeVoe said before reaching for Tiên's arm. "Come, let's move on to your next test."

He held Whisper's arm with his free hand before saying, "If you would," to which Whisper nodded in understanding. Whisper disappeared momentarily, leaving DeVoe clutching an invisible arm. When he reappeared, Whisper wore a frown on his face. He disappeared and reappeared once more with the same result.

While they was distracted, Tiên subtly reached for a glass shard. As Whisper was about to speak, she stabbed the arm that held onto her. DeVoe stumbled slightly and narrowed his eyes at her but before he could react, Tiên healed him. This time the wisp produced was larger than that of Whisper's.

"Wha-" DeVoe began before it dawned on him.

While Tiên had single-handedly weakened both of their opponents, the others had been waiting in the medical bay in suspense. Harry had updated Barry on their situation and visa versa. Apparently Team Arrow, along with A.R.G.U.S., was doing everything in their power to regain control of the system and deactivate the power dampener.

"Cisco, you should take Caitlin away so that there was no chance of her powers being used against us - no offense Caitlin," Iris suggested.

"I agree," Harry said eagerly.

Cisco looked reluctant but opened up a breach nonetheless. "I hope Tiên will be alright without any other metas to call on," he said as Caitlin approached the breach.

"I'll go with you," Harry suggested. "That way, you can come back right away," then looking at Caitlin added, "and you won't be alone."

"Whatever you're going to do, hurry it up," Iris said urgently.

With that, the three of them disappeared, leaving Iris and Jason alone in the medical bay.

They landed in a desert location with a few tents scattered around. Above them, the sky was a mix of magenta and sky blue. Although it was well into the night, there were no stars or moon to be seen despite the calm weather.

"Stay here until I come and get you. And do NOT, under any circumstances, jump more than 30 centimetres off the ground with both of your feet," Cisco said quickly before he breached back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Ramon wha-" Harry said but Cisco was already gone.

"That doesn't sound ominous at all…" Caitlin said.

Just as Cisco arrived back at S.T.A.R. labs, Tiên hollered, "HELP!" from the cortex as she saw the look of pure rage on Ruth's features - a look that she had not seen since DeVoe had taken over her body.

Without hesitation, Cisco rushed to the cortex. When he arrived, he saw DeVoe lunge at Tiên. Cisco quickly breached her to safety but was knocked out by an invisible force as soon as he had stepped out of his exiting breach. Tiên helped him up, copying his power as she did so, while fending off the invisible menace.

DeVoe retrieved two different guns that blasted unknown substances and began shooting at Tiên and Cisco. Careful not to get hit by the unknown substances, which had a ghastly smell to them and left burn marks on the surfaces they touched, Cisco blasted at the guns. Meanwhile, Tiên got a handle on her powers as she fought Whisper.

Cisco managed to destroy one of the guns, which fell to the ground and shattered. However, in attempting to get the other, he accidentally blasted the mysterious substance that it was producing and caused a powerful explosion.

This caught Tiên off guard and while her attention was elsewhere, she was knocked down by Whisper. A glass shard seemingly flew up in the air and stabbed Cisco in the back. Noticing this, Tiên quickly blasted towards the source of the glass shard with one hand and towards DeVoe's remaining gun with the other. She successfully launched Whisper through the glass behind him but only managed to blast DeVoe's free arm as her primary focus had been on Whisper.

Although Tiên had missed her target, she had still seriously injured DeVoe. He realized he was fighting a losing battle and decided to pull out his last resort. DeVoe quickly dropped his weapon and reached into his pocket to reveal a tiny sphere.

"I would stop if I were you," he said venomously as Tiên raised her hand to throw another blast his way.

"What you see in my hand is a bomb," began DeVoe as he stepped closer to Tiên and Cisco. "But it's not just any bomb. Once activated, this will not only wipe out everything in a 100 mile radius, but it is also connected to several carefully positioned bombs all around the world."

"What do you mean by 'carefully positioned'?" Cisco asked, although he feared he already knew the answer.

"Oh just that when these go off, the areas surrounding the explosions will start to suspect their enemies' involvement and wars will break out in just the right places to effectively start what could truly be referred to as a complete world war," DeVoe said casually, although there was a menacing gleam in his eye as he spoke. "So I think it would be in your best interest to let Dominic and myself leave and bring Caitlin Snow to us so that the entire human race doesn't kill itself off."

"Wait, who's Dominic?" Tiên asked, looking between DeVoe and Cisco.

"I'm guessing Whisper?" Cisco replied with a shrug which caused him to wince in pain from his stab wound.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," came a voice from behind them. As DeVoe, Tiên, and Cisco turned around, they saw Jason by the entrance to the medical wing, supported by Iris, just as he held out his hand to "heal" DeVoe.

"NO!" yelled DeVoe as he watched the blast on his left arm heal up followed by the large wisp indicating his loss of power. Ruth's body buckled and her head was hung low.

"You'll pay for this," she said quietly before passing out.

Cisco took advantage of the situation by retrieving two set of cuffs for Whisper and Ruth. He cuffed Ruth as quickly as he could with his injury but it took Tiên a while longer to find Whisper's wrists to put the cuffs around them.

"It's over," Iris whispered.

Beside her, Jason muttered a low, "Thank god," before passing out from exhaustion.

Back at the unknown location, Harry looked exasperated at being left there with no further explanation from Cisco. Granted, he knew the danger wasn't over and he was still worried about the others at S.T.A.R. Labs. Still, he was thinking more of a safe house or at least a familiar location but _noooo_ , Cisco had to abandon them at this random location, which he was pretty sure wasn't even on Earth-1.

Then, Harry realized that it was just the two of them here and no interruptions (until Cisco came back, that is) so he said, "Snow…"

"Well we're in a desert so I don't think so," Caitlin said. At Harry's raised eyebrow, she chuckled awkwardly and said, "Sorry, bad joke. I do that when I'm nervous…"

"They'll be okay," Harry said confidently as he stared at the landscape. Then looking at Caitlin he said, "But if you're nervous about our talk, we can wait if you want."

That was it. There was no beating around the bush. Harry had finally stopped running from his feelings and was ready to have a meaningful conversation with Caitlin to see where they both stood.

"No," Caitlin said with a shake of her head, "we need to talk."

There was a silence before Harry spoke again. "I care for you, Snow." There was more silence before Harry let out a small laugh. Rubbing the back of his neck, he sighed and said, "I'm not good at this. I'm not good at talking about… feelings." He spat out the last word like it was offensive.

She looked at him before turning away and saying, "I don't know when it started but it took me being kidnapped and seeing you care for me openly for me to realize that I care for you too. More than just the way a friend cares, though. I liked the extra time we got to spend together and when you went away, I felt lonely. I over-analyzed every little interaction we had from when I thought you were going to kiss me to the way you held my hands outside that restaurant and everything in between. When you sacrificed yourself to allow Vicky and me to escape, I nearly had a heart attack and I don't want to even think about what might have happened if you hadn't been able to escape."

Here, Caitlin's voice filled with emotion so she took a breath to recover. Then, turning to look Harry in the eye, she spoke again with a level voice, "Your intelligence that you value so much is what makes you vital to our work but your heart is what makes you vital to our family. I've known that for years but I didn't realize how vital you were to me specifically in more ways than just being a good friend. I want more than just friendship and, even though you haven't said it in plain words, I've seen through your actions that you feel the same way. So, even though I didn't articulate my feelings in the best way just now, I want you to know that I have strong feelings for you and I hope that we can take a step forward in our relationship."

Harry stared at her in stunned silence as she spoke. He had figured that she liked him but he hadn't realized that her feelings had reached this level of intensity. As she spoke her last sentence, he slowly began to smile as he realized they were on the exact same page. He too had realized that he couldn't imagine his life without her and really hoped that they could take the next step in their relationship.

Instead of replying, Harry walked slowly towards Caitlin and gently held her face in his hands. He held her gaze for a moment before leaning in to kiss her. Caitlin's eyes fluttered shut as she savoured the moment. She felt like she was floating. All of her worries were washed away as she appreciated how right this felt. Harry was having similar thoughts. He had waited so long to be able to express how he felt and it felt so much better than he could ever have imagined.

"Ahem," came a voice to their right.

Neither had even heard Cisco's breach let alone realize that he, along with Iris, were standing right beside them. Caitlin and Harry instantly broke apart. Caitlin looked embarrassed while Harry looked annoyed before they both remembered the situation they were in and became alert.

"What happened? Did you get them?" Harry asked.

"Nuh-uh, we are _not_ just going to gloss over this that easily," Cisco said.

"It's about time!" Iris exclaimed.

"Seriously guys, where are DeVoe and Whisper?" Caitlin persisted.

"Relax! All it took was a bit of team effort and it all worked out. Tiên, as it turns out, is a huge badass by the way," Cisco replied.

"Also, it's Whisper and _Ruth._ Tiên and Jason collectively drained Ruth's body of her powers so DeVoe's consciousness left her. At any rate, it's finally over. Oh and the others managed to get out of A.R.G.U.S. so literally all of our problems are solved," Iris said with a big smile.

"That's great!" Caitlin said, matching Iris' smile.

"Yeah! And now you can tell us all about what happened with you two," Iris said mischievously.

"There's nothing to tell," Harry said shortly.

Cisco crossed his arms and said, "Well, I'm not opening a breach until you tell us. We want details people!"

Looking over at Harry hesitantly as she spoke, Caitlin said, "Well, we talked about it and decided that we wanted to take the next step in our relationship."

"Yes, Snow and I are dating. Now can we go?" Harry said gruffly.

"Congrats!" Iris exclaimed, pulling Caitlin into a hug as Cisco did the same to Harry. Then looking between Harry and Caitlin, Iris said, "You guys are so cute together!"

"Thank you," Caitlin said with a laugh.

Cisco finally opened the breach and the four of them stepped through it to discover that the others who were stuck at A.R.G.U.S.'s base, along with Joe, a sleepy-looking Cecile, had already made it back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Jesse and Gypsy arrived in the breach room almost moments after they arrived.

"DAD!" Jesse squealed as she pulled him into a hug.

"Jesse, what are you doing here?" Harry said as he pulled away from their hug.

"How could I not come after seeing this?!" Jesse exclaimed.

She pulled out her phone and showed Harry a picture of him and Caitlin kissing.

"RAMON!" Harry yelled.

* * *

So yeah, this should have been the end of the story but I wanted to take some more time to wrap things up. I'm not sure when the next update will be - midterms are coming up and I will most likely be spending every waking minute solving partial differential equations, the probability that someone would choose an ace out of a deck of 52 cards, or proving why a given strategy is optimal for player 1 in a two-player 0-sum game so basically all extra-curricular activities will be on hold for the next few weeks. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story so far and I look forward to publishing the next couple "bonus" chapters as soon as I can!


	17. Quiet night

Thank you to Mustard Lady for the lovely comment - glad I could put a smile on your face!

A short chapter, I know. I'm literally useless after this first round of midterms and the assignments just keep coming but I wanted to put this out there at least. Stay tuned for the last chapter which should be out sometime next month.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash

 **Chapter 17: Quiet night**

A celebration was in order, of course. Seeing as everyone was already gathered there, they decided just to party at S.T.A.R. Labs. Ordering in food and letting Cisco take charge of the music (because he would complain about everyone's picks if he wasn't), everyone (excluding Jason who was unfortunately still knocked out cold) chatted happily, relieved that DeVoe was finally gone - for good this time.

After chasing Cisco halfway around S.T.A.R. Labs, Harry had come back wearing a victorious smirk (Caitlin didn't even want to know) and since then, hadn't left Caitlin's side. However, as there were so many people around, they weren't able to talk to each other as much and both were looking forward to having some alone time.

As it turned out, because everyone was already so exhausted, the party only lasted about two hours and everyone cleared out pretty quickly. Joe and Cecile left first followed by the new metas. Ralph also left at that time. Despite his efforts to be discrete about it, he wasn't fooling anyone - especially after he tripped, fell down, and quickly said, "Nothing to see here," before speeding off after Masuma. Using the distraction to their advantage, Wally and Jesse snuck away shortly afterwards.

"Bye lovebirds," Cisco hollered as he, Gypsy, Barry and Iris were leaving.

"Once again, so happy you guys are finally getting together," Iris said with a big smile.

"Yeah, I didn't even see it coming!" Barry exclaimed.

"Then you must be really blind because I called it like a week ago and I don't even live on this Earth," Gypsy pointed out.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Alright go home."

Caitlin lightly smacked his arm and gave him a look before turning to their friends and saying, "He means get home safely and may you have a wonderful and restful night because god knows we all deserve it."

"Okay no one says 'may you have a wonderful and restful night'" Harry said.

"Yeah I know, my brain doesn't function past 2 a.m." Caitlin said, rubbing her eyes.

After everyone else had left, Caitlin turned to Harry and said, "So…"

Glancing down at her, Harry opened his mouth and paused a moment before finally saying, "Well, I would understand if you finally wanted to get a night's rest in your own bed… but you could stay here if you wanted."

Caitlin's eyes lit up, "I would love to! Actually, I was thinking of selling my apartment. I don't think I could spend another night there after everything that's happened…"

"Snow," Harry said as he took her hands in his and looked her in the eyes, "I will never let anything happen to you - ever."

Caitlin's eyes softened and she leaned in to place her forehead on his before quietly saying, "And I won't let anything happen to you."

Harry brought her in for a tight hug and said, "God it feels good to be able to do that freely."

Caitlin giggled as she rested her head on his chest, "You could always hug me freely!"

Scoffing, Harry said, "And let Ramon go on about it for the rest of eternity? No thank you." Then withdrawing from their hug slightly so he could look at her, Harry said, "Oh and Snow, I'm not a really big fan of public displays of affection."

Caitlin smiled, "Don't worry, I'm not that big a fan myself. We'll keep it professional at work and keep our private life as separate as we can."

The two eventually made their way to Harry's room, talking about boundaries and such as they did so. For the remainder of the night, they talked quietly to one another about various things that were on their minds. They spoke of their time apart during the DeVoe fiasco and what it was exactly that Harry had said to Cisco after chasing him earlier that day among other things. Caitlin was glad to hear that Jesse was doing well with her team and that Harry and Jesse's relationship was well on its way to being mended.

Things had gone quiet for a bit before Caitlin said, "I think she knows, by the way."

"Hmm?" Harry replied.

"Frost. That is, I think she knew even before I realized that I have feelings for you," Caitlin said.

"Huh," Harry said. He knew that Caitlin was trying to get something off her chest and he didn't want to steer her off track by making a sarcastic comment.

She was quiet for a moment before adding, "I used to be scared of her - scared to let her out. But then she became an asset to the team - well not this time but in the past - and it was somehow really hard to come to terms with that. I felt like the team needed her- _liked_ her more than me.

Then there was that day where you told me I was special. That I meant something to my friends, and from that day forward I started to look at things in a new perspective. She is her own person and I am my own. Yes, we share the same body, but we have totally different personalities. Did you know, we've started to communicate with each other by leaving notes? That's why I think she knew before me - she wrote a note one day when I accidentally turned after getting frustrated about something that said 'Make sure you see Harry today.' I thought she was trying to make a joke or something. We're not quite at the point of friendship but it definitely helps to have some information when I'm disorientated after I regain control. And these improvements are because of you. I'm starting not to hate the way I am because of you."

"No, it has nothing to do with me. You made the choice to make a change, you devised a way to improve your life, not me. All I did was remind you that we're all here for you and that we all love you." As Caitlin shifted so that she was lying close enough to Harry to nuzzle her face into his chest, he added, "Especially me."

Caitlin chuckled lightly against him. Soon, they both drifted off into a peaceful slumber, perfectly content in each other's arms. They were together, they were safe, and that's all that mattered to them at the moment.


	18. Our big bright future

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash or Stranger than Fiction

* * *

The next day, or more specifically, the next afternoon, everyone was back to business. The current task of the day was to create and implement training regimes for all of the new team members. It seemed that some of them had been talking to their previous group members because Milos, Young-ah, and Akari had expressed interest in giving Team Flash another chance. The three of them agreed to meet up for training later that week once the schedule and routines were all set.

Jesse helped out for a while before both she and Wally headed to Earth-2 to spend some time together.

"What? Too cool to spend time with your dad?" Harry said as Jesse hugged him goodbye.

"Oh come on, like you want me to stay," Jesse said, rolling her eyes.

"Wh- Jesse," Harry said, suddenly turning very serious. "I hope you know this doesn't change anything. I mean I know it must be difficult -"

"Dad, please! I'm so so happy that you are dating Caitlin!" Jesse cut him off. "In fact, maybe it would be fun to stay…"

"Fun? What-why would it be fun?" Harry demanded, not knowing what she was on about but rightfully suspicious.

"To harass you, no doubt," Caitlin said as she approached the father and daughter duo.

Jesse hugged Caitlin tightly, "Oh I'm so happy he picked you and that you're willing to put up with him as well." Caitlin laughed lightly in response and as they withdrew from each other, Jesse said, "I'm serious. You're so kind and generous but you'll fight for the ones you love as well. I really admire you, Caitlin. And if he ever gives you any grief, just let me know and I'll set him straight."

"Oh yes. Very funny making fun of your dad," Harry said as he sauntered over to Jesse. "I guess I'll have to keep that multi-cube for myself then."

Jesse's eyes widened, "Shut up. You were NOT going to give me a multi-cube for my birthday!"

"That's right," Harry said, crossing his arms nonchalantly.

Jesse struggled with herself a bit over whether or not she should just play it cool but in the end, she caved.

"I'm so sorry dad," Jesse said, trying to backtrack. "You know I was joking, right?"

"Too bad, I'm keeping the cube," Harry said, looking disinterested.

"Um… next time you come visit, you can be team leader for the day!" Jesse exclaimed. "Come on dad, please!"

"Harry," Caitlin said, looking at him expectantly when it looked like he was going to reject the idea.

"Make it two days," Harry replied, after seeing Caitlin's expression.

"Deal!" Jesse said, holding out her hand for Harry to shake. He did so and then Jesse squealed before giving him a big hug. "Thanks dad!"

Then, after exchanging goodbyes with her dad and his new girlfriend, Jesse practically skipped to the breach room to join Wally.

When she was out of sight, Harry whispered gruffly into Caitlin's ear, "You just lost me a multi-cube. What are you going to do to make it up to me?"

Caitlin rolled her eyes and pushed him away half-heartedly, "Oh please, you were going to give it to her anyway."

"You underestimate my stubbornness, Dr. Snow," Harry said as he walked alongside her towards the speed lab.

"Oi, you two! Do you plan on actually doing your jobs anytime today?" Cisco called from his position behind one of the computers as he monitored vitals of the new metas while they trained.

"Sorry Cisco," Caitlin called back.

Harry, on the other hand, pulled out his phone and waved it in the air. Cisco's face paled and he said in a high-pitch voice, "It's fine! Relax, I've got this."

Harry put his phone away just as Caitlin turned around to look at him. She eyed him suspiciously but Harry looked straight ahead, pretending not to notice. Then he glanced down as if he just realized Caitlin was staring at him and said, "What?"

Before Caitlin could question him, Shannel sped into the lab and came to an abrupt stop. As she did so, a giant wave of water followed her and surged around her before coming together to reform Sam's body.

"See, I'm faster," Shannel said in triumph.

"No! We got here at the exact same time!" Sam protested.

"Yeah but then it took you a few seconds to reform. What are you going to do? Ask the enemy to give you a moment?" Shannel retorted.

"Guys, guys! This is not a competition!" Cisco exclaimed.

"I'm going to slip out and check on Jason before I get roped into this," Caitlin whispered to Harry while the others were distracted.

"What about me?" Harry demanded.

Putting a hand on his shoulder, Caitlin said, "You're on your own."

"Hey-" Harry said as he reached out to stop her from leaving but Caitlin skillfully avoided him and giggled before rushing off towards the medical wing.

Harry scoffed and shook his head but unfortunately, this little exchange alerted the others of his presence and he was roped into their argument, and eventually the training itself.

Meanwhile, Caitlin walked in the medical wing to see Jason sitting upright in his cot.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Caitlin asked him gently.

"Don't ask," Jason groaned with a slight shake of his head. "I'm trying to stay as still as possible. Getting to this position felt as though someone was driving a knife in and out of me while whacking me over the head with a hammer…"

"I'm so sorry," Caitlin said genuinely. "We're all thankful for what you did for us though - you were a real hero."

"Nah, Tiên was the hero, I just delivered the final blow is all," Jason said with a wave of his hand, which he immediately regretted as he winced and his eyes filled up with water.

"Okay let's get you some painkillers," Caitlin said hastily. "But first I'm going to need to do a quick checkup, just to make sure there aren't any other serious problems we're not aware of like internal bleeding or a head injury."

"Sounds good," Jason said through gritted teeth.

After Caitlin did the checkup and gave him some medication, she started working on changing Jason's wound dressings, applying Felicity's balm where she could.

Already feeling better, Jason managed to make small talk. "So how's it going with your 'not-boyfriend,'" Jason asked with a smirk.

"Aha… yes well, we actually started dating yesterday!" Caitlin said, slightly embarrassed. It wasn't that she was ashamed of dating Harry but it just made her slightly uncomfortable that everyone else, including strangers they had just met, seemed to have picked up on their feelings even before they realized it themselves.

"Oh well good for you," Jason said in a jovial tone. Then his mood turned slightly somber.

"I don't mean to pry, but could your personal issue have something to with a relationship?" Caitlin asked.

"Ahh not exactly," Jason replied uneasily.

"You don't have to talk about it. Sorry, I was just being nosy," Caitlin said.

"No, it's not that big of a deal. Essentially there's this person who I know has feelings for me but I don't reciprocate and I'm just trying to figure out a way to put them down gently," Jason said.

"Oh. Well, I mean honesty is your best bet. Just say you don't think of them like that and that you'd still like to remain friends, assuming you do," Caitlin said simply.

"Easier said than done," he sighed. "I just wanted to say, thanks for helping me out so much. You could have just as easily left me to suffer after I was being a jerk to you before and even now, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who remembered to check up on me. I haven't seen a single one of my so-called friends since I passed out."

"I'm sure they're on their way," Caitlin said. "Also no need to thank me, it's my job. And in case you've forgotten, I was in your place not too long ago and _you_ were the one who helped _me_. Now, I'll be checking up on you periodically throughout the day for the next few weeks by which time you should be ready to fully heal yourself. Don't try to heal yourself before then because it'll just tire you out which will lower your immune system and make you susceptible to all kinds of infections. Oh and I'll be staying here most nights so just text me if you need anything."

"Ohhhh good for you," Jason said with a cheeky smile.

Caitlin just shook her head slightly before turning to leave. As she was walking away, she turned her head to call out, "Just call or text if you need anything," which caused her to nearly bump into Harry, who had come to check on her (and also escape the chaos that was training new metas who insisted on competing).

Caitlin stopped short, looked up and breathlessly said, "Hi."

"Hello," Harry said with a side smile and that twinkle in his eyes that Caitlin adored.

Remembering that they had agreed on a strict no PDA rule, Caitlin shook herself from her stupor and asked, "Um, did something happen?"

"No, everything's fine," Harry said without explanation. "I just wanted to see if you were up for watching a movie tonight. We could set up one of the screens in the cortex that was _not_ destroyed and order some pizza or something. I don't know, what do you think?"

Caitlin pretended to consider this for a moment, before saying, "Hmm I mean I would have to move some stuff around…" Upon seeing Harry's slightly surprised, and slightly disappointed expression, Caitlin immediately giggled and said, "Of course I would love to!" She found his reaction so adorable that she got on her tippy-toes in preparation to kiss him before she yet again remembered the PDA rule and plopped back down again in frustration. This was going to be harder than she thought!

It was Harry's turn to look at Caitlin in amusement. Although he too felt the urge to display affection, he settled with gently tapping the back of the knuckle of his right index finger on her arm. Caitlin lit up instantly and returned the gesture of endearment with a smile and a tilt of her head.

"Alright then, it's a date," Harry said before they returned to their duties.

The remainder of the day turned out to be quite tiring. Cisco ended up assigning each old Flash team member with a task and essentially ran training like a circuit where each new Flash team member went to each station to train (or be monitored in the case of Caitlin's station). By 7 pm, pretty well everyone was exhausted and they decided to call it a day.

"I think I'll stick behind to work on a way to monitor vitals while training so Caitlin doesn't have to keep running between her station and looking in on Jason," Cisco said as everyone else was clearing out.

"No I think you've worked hard enough for one day," Harry said as he all but ushered Cisco towards the elevator leading to the exit.

"Hey-what no I want to! It'll make tomorrow run smoother," Cisco said.

"Seriously don't worry about it. I should be able to check in less frequently tomorrow and running back and forth doesn't bother me. You should get some rest," Caitlin chimed in.

"It's okay, I'm just a little sleepy but it's nothing an extra large slushie won't fix!" Cisco said with a goofy grin.

"Ramon, take a hint," Harry growled under his breath as he pushed Cisco towards the elevator a bit more roughly than before.

"Ohhhhh," Cisco said as it finally dawned on him. Then he looked between the two of them and said, "All jokes aside, it's going to take some getting used to. I mean, don't get me wrong, you guys make an awesome couple and I saw it coming but the dynamic change is still new and weird to me. I mean, I'm basically the third wheel now!"

He meant it as more of an observation on how things had changed. However Caitlin and Harry took this to mean he felt left out. Caitlin came over and gave Cisco a big hug.

"Cisco, you are our family. You will never be a third wheel and you are always welcome to hang out with us," Caitlin said sincerely as she pulled away to look at him.

Harry came up behind Caitlin and said with chagrin, "I'm sorry for pushing you out. Come on, let's have a movie night," as he gestured for Cisco to come back in.

"Guys, no don't feel bad! That came out wrong. I meant that it's really cool that we've got this new relationship tying us together. Like Caitlin, you're practically my sister, and Harry you're my best friend so now it's like my best friend is my brother-in-law! How cool is that!" Cisco said with a bright smile.

At that, Harry and Caitlin relaxed. Then Cisco said, "Alright, I'm going to head out." Caitlin gave him another hug and wished him goodnight and Harry just raised his hand in a wave which Cisco returned before he entered the elevator. "Use protection!" Cisco called out just as the elevator doors were about to close so that Harry couldn't murder him.

Caitlin turned bright red and Harry looked absolutely livid.

"He'll pay for that," Harry said venomously before turning back to Caitlin who cleared her throat.

"Yeah I mean just to be clear, I don't think I'm quite ready for… that," she said uncomfortably.

"Neither am I," Harry answered bluntly. "I mean I'd like to, eventually. When we're both ready. But for now, let's just focus on settling down from all the crazy that's been happening lately."

Caitlin immediately relaxed when Harry came over and put an arm around her shoulder as they walked towards the cortex. They set up the movie Stranger than Fiction, a movie that both had watched before so they were able to talk during without ruining the experience for the other. Ordering pizza and setting out snacks, they enjoyed the movie together, laughing and making comments on the ridiculous or clever moments in the film.

At some point during the movie, Caitlin sighed and leaned on Harry's shoulder. It was slightly at an awkward angle due to the fact that they were sitting on two chairs with wheels and had to be careful not to send one another sliding across the room but they managed.

"You know," Caitlin said, "when I was watching the new team members today, I couldn't help but think that, now with so many metas on our side, we could technically afford to take vacations now. I mean not now but eventually. We could even have regular days off and just be on call for emergencies during those times. What do you think?"

"I think that is definitely a possibility," Harry agreed.

"Really?" Caitlin asked, lifting her head up to look at Harry in surprise. "I thought you would resist the idea a bit more than that."

"I would have if they were incompetent," Harry said bluntly. "But they've already proven they can handle themselves so I think we can trust them. Also, and I'll deny admitting this if you ever tell anyone, but when I was at your apartment, Mr. Circus Act-"

"Sam," Caitlin corrected.

"Yeah him. He...saved my life with the right call. I was so wrapped up in saving you that I wasn't thinking logically but both him and the absorbing abilities one-"

"Tiên. Seriously you should know that one considering she was a huge part of the take-down of DeVoe."

"... do you want me to finish this story or not?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Sorry, continue," Caitlin said, with mirth in her eyes.

"Anyway, both of them took me to safety while I was trying to go back and find you which was idiotic because you were invisible at the time and DeVoe could have easily killed me. They had their priorities straight under pressure and that just shows how professional they already are. So yeah, I agree with you," Harry said.

Caitlin sighed and moved even closer to Harry - which was not much considering the awkward chair position.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I'm just glad we're all safe and that we're past all that. I also realize how extremely lucky I am to have you who would go as far as putting your own life on the line for me. I never want you to do it again but I still can't believe you did it," Caitlin said quietly.

"Well I'm not making any promises there but I hope we're never in that position again. I want to spend as much time as I can with you. I want to continue saving this city with all of our friends but especially you by my side. I want to grow old with you, maybe have children with you one day," Harry said, then stopped abruptly when he realized he'd said more than he'd like to have.

"Harry, I want all that too," Caitlin said who had been completely moved by this sudden expression of his wishes and couldn't help but look at him with an adoring gaze. Harry met her eyes and his fear completely disappeared at her expression.

They leaned in to kiss each other and but the chair was digging into Caitlin's stomach so much that she soon pulled away with a frustrated noise.

"I wish I could get closer to you," she sighed.

"That can be arranged," Harry replied with a smirk. Then he scooped Caitlin up and brought her onto the same chair as him which caused Caitlin to squeal slightly. With his arm around her waist to support her, kissed her again. Pulling away slightly, Harry asked, "Better?"

"Much better," Caitlin said before continuing where they left off.

Once the movie was over, they shifted to the bedroom and, similar to the previous night, talked for hours before falling asleep. Both Harry and Caitlin were still in a state of disbelief that this was real, now that it had been over a day and the reality of their relationship started to sink in. However, they couldn't think of anything they wanted more and were thankful for every moment they had together. As they both drifted off, the last thought each of them had was of the other and how they hoped that things could stay this way forever.

* * *

~The end~

I hope you enjoyed my story! As I said, it probably should have ended two chapters ago but I wasn't ready to let go at that time. Now it feels like it's the right time. Maybe because one of my favourite shows, Bepanah, just ended yesterday, maybe because Harry isn't in this season and Sherloque isn't the same, or maybe it's some other reason, who knows?

I just want to thank everyone who has read, commented, favourited or otherwise interacted with my story. A special thanks to Mustard Lady who has commented on all of my chapters and who motivated me to continue writing. It was fun while it lasted but I think I will be taking a break from Flash fanfiction writing for a while. I am currently working on a Bepanah fanfic on wattpad (same username, dbzmiracle4) called Itefaaq but unfortunately it's in romanized Hindi. If you really want to read it but don't understand Hindi, PM me either on here or wattpad and I'll send you the English version :D

So yeah, thanks again for reading and I hope everyone has an amazing holiday season!


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